THE  ORGANIZATION 

OF 

INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


PUBLISHERS    '0%F.  &OO.K.S 

Coal  Age     *     Electric  Railway  Journal 

Electrical  World  ^  -Engineering  News-Record 

American  Machinist  ^Jngenierfalnternacionaf 

Engineering  3  Mining  Journal     *    Power 

Chemical  6   Metallurgical  Engineering 

Electrical  Merchandising 


THE  ORGANIZATION 

OF 

INDUSTRIAL 
SCIENTIFIC   RESEARCH 


BY 

C.  E.  KENNETH  MEES,  D.  Sc. 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE   RESEARCH  LABOBATOBY 
EASTMAN  KODAK  COMPANY,  KOCHESTEB,  N.  T. 


FIRST  EDITION 


McGRAW-HILL  BOOK  COMPANY,  INC, 

NEW  YORK:    239  WEST  39TH  STREET 

LONDON:    6  &  8  BOUVERIE  ST.,  E.  C.  4 

1920 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY  THE 
MCGRAW-HILL  BOOK  COMPANY,  INC. 


THE  MAPLE  PRESS  YORK  PA 


"  There  is  danger  in  an  organization  chart — danger  that 
it  be  mistaken  for  an  organization." 

A.  D.  LITTLE. 


414982 


PREFACE 


There  is  no  subject  concerning  which  scientific  discussion 
is  more  active  at  the  present  time  than  the  relation  of 
science  to  industry,  and  especially  the  development  of 
research  in  science  which  may  be  applied  to  industrial 
ends.  Hitherto,  this  discussion  has  been  concerned 
chiefly  with  an  exposition  of  the  advantages  to  industry 
of  participation  in  scientific  research  and  of  the  importance, 
national  and  economic,  of  an  increase  in  the  volume  of 
research  work  of  all  kinds. 

But  together  with  propaganda  in  favor  of  research 
there  is  necessary  a  study  of  the  best  methods  of  organizing 
research  work  for  industrial  purposes  and  of  the  conditions 
under  which  such  work  should  be  conducted.  This  book 
is  intended  as  a  contribution  to  this  latter  question,  and, 
while  general  principles  have  been  discussed  throughout 
the  book,  every  effort  has  been  made  to  be  as  definite 
in  statement  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  will  allow. 

One  can  imagine  the  head  of  a  large  manufacturing 
corporation  answering  the  plea  that  his  firm  should  under- 
take research  work  both  for  its  own  sake  and  for  that  of  the 
community,  "Very  well,  I  am  convinced,  I  am  ready  to  start 
a  research  department.  What  will  it  cost?  To  start,  to 
support?  Where  shall  I  get  the  men ?  What  should  it  do? 
What  may  I  expect  to  get  from  it,  and  when?  What 
position  in  my  organization  should  it  occupy?  What 
should  be  its  own  organization?''  It  is  to  answer  these 
questions  that  this  book  has  been  written,  and  it  is  with 
the  hope  that  it  may  be  of  value  in  promoting  the  great 
cause  of  scientific  research  that  it  has  been  published. 

Thanks  are  due  to  many  friends  for  helpful  criticism 
and  advice;  their  suggestions,  freely  offered,  have  been 
gladly  accepted  and  incorporated  in  the  text. 

Rochester,  N.  Y. 

December,  1919. 

vii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I.  INTRODUCTION 1 

II.  TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES 22 

III.  CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES 36 

IV.  THE  POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY 

IN  AN  INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION $?  5  ~J 

V.  THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL 

RESEARCH  LABORATORIES 75 

VI.  THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY.   .    .     90 
VII.  THE     BUILDING     AND     EQUIPMENT     OF     THE 

LABORATORY. 106 

VIII.  THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK 122 

IX.  THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY  FOR  A 

SPECIFIC  INDUSTRY 145 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 156 

INDEX  168 


IX 


THE  ORGANIZATION 

OF 

INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTION 

The  present  development  of  human  knowledge  has 
been  produced  by  investigation  of  the  relationship 
between  cause  and  effect  in  natural  phenomena. 
This  is  termed  scientific  research,  which  may  take 
many  forms  according  to  the  branch  of  knowledge 
with  which  it  is  concerned.  The  equipment  neces- 
sary for  scientific  investigation  also  depends  upon 
the  field  in  which  it  is  pursued.  Some  branches  of 
research  require  no  apparatus  and  can  be  carried  on 
by  an  individual  investigator  without  any  special 
equipment;  mathematical  research,  for  instance,  de- 
mands only  writing  materials  and  the  ability  of  the 
investigator;  but  most  forms  of  scientific  research 
involve  the  use  of  apparatus,  which  may  be  very  sim- 
ple or  may  be  extremely  complex,  and  for  convenience 
research  is  therefore  carried  on  in  special  laboratories 
equipped  with  the  necessary  apparatus. 

Before  an  investigation  can  be  commenced  with 
profit,  it  is  necessary  for  the  worker  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  what  has  already  been  done  by  other 


OBtiftfflQ  RESEARCH 


investigators  in  the  same  field,  and  after  the  work  is 
completed  it  must  be  utilized  in  such  a  way  that  it 
becomes  available  as  a  stepping  stone  toward  further 
work  and  is  applied  to  the  practical  purpose  of  indus- 
try. Research  laboratories  therefore  necessarily  con- 
tain a  library,  and  the  proper  use  of  this  library  and 
the  proper  utilization  of  the  work  produced  by  the 
laboratory  is  as  necessary  a  function  of  its  organiza- 
tion as  the  experimental  work  itself. 

The  purposes  for  which  research  may  be  undertaken 
are  diverse.  A  research  may  be  started  with  the 
object  of  advancing  pure  knowledge  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  with  the  purpose  of  facilitating  industrial  pro- 
duction and  making  commercial  profit,  yet  the  methods 
and  results  will  be  similar  in  the  two  cases,  and  it  is 
usually  impossible  to  predict  whether  the  value  of 
any  projected  research  work  will  be  greater  in  its  in- 
dustrial applications  or  in  the  advancement  of  knowl- 
edge. In  many  cases  those  very  researches  which 
have  been  undertaken  in  the  interests  of  pure  science 
have  proved  to  be  of  the  greatest  value  to  industry. 

Some  forms  of  scientific  research  are  applicable 
only  in  the  smallest  degree  to  industrial  production. 
The  work  of  the  astronomer  or  of  the  comparative 
anatomist  would  appear  to  have  very  little  possibility 
of  application,  but  other  branches  of  science  closely 
allied  to  these  are  of  the  greatest  industrial  importance. 
Thus,  the  work  of  the  illuminating  engineer,  who  re- 
quires photometric  apparatus  designed  on  exactly 
the  same  principle  as  that  used  by  the  astronomer,  or 
of  the  entomologist,  whose  work  is  closely  related  to 
that  of  the  comparative  anatomist,  has  the  most  direct 
application  to  industrial  lighting  or  to  agriculture. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

The  difference  between  a  pure  and  an  applied  science 
is  therefore  merely  one  of  intention.  An  investigator 
in  pure  science  desires  primarily  to  advance  knowledge, 
while  an  investigator  in  applied  science  desires  to 
obtain  a  financial  advantage  from  his  work,  but  the 
purely  scientific  work  may  eventually  prove  of  great 
financial  value  while  that  of  the  industrial  investi- 
gator may  have  much  value  for  the  theory  of  the 
subject 

It  is  often  stated  that  industrial  laboratories  must 
select  those  researches  which  will  pay  financially, 
while  laboratories  devoted  to  "pure"  research  are  not 
under  any  such  limitation,  but,  as  Dr.  Steinmetz 
points  out,1  this  is  really  no  limitation  at  all,  since 

"there  is  no  scientific  investigation,  however  remote  from  in- 
dustrial requirements,  which  might  not  possibly  lead  to  industri- 
ally useful  developments. 

Experience,  indeed,  has  shown  that  it  is  rare  that  sooner  or 
later  some  industrially  valuable  results  do  not  follow,  no  matter 
how  abstruse  and  remote  from  apparent  utility  a  scientific  in- 
vestigation may  appear,  and  any  scientific  research  whatsoever 
is  thus  industrially  justified.  To  illustrate,  when  research  work 
was  undertaken  by  the  Consulting  Engineering  Laboratory  of 
the  General  Electric  Company  on  the  electrostatic  corona  and, 
in  general,  on  dielectric  phenomena  in  the  air,  no  immediate  or 
direct  benefit  could  be  seen  for  the  industrial  company  which 
financed  the  work,  but  it  was  justified  by  the  consideration  that 
a  greater  knowledge  of  these  phenomena  may  extend  the  eco- 
nomic limits  of  long  distance  power  transmission  and  thereby 
increase  the  industrial  demand  for  transmission  apparatus. 
Nevertheless,  before  the  research  was  completed — if  research 
can  ever  be  considered  completed — it  had  led  to  a  redesign  of 
practically  all  high  voltage  transmission  apparatus  and  thus 
proven  essentially  valuable  in  industrial  design." 

1C.  P.  STEINMETZ,  Scientific  Research  in  Relation  to  the  Indus- 
tries, Jour.  Franklin  Institute,  December,  1916,  p.  712. 


4  INDUSTRIAL   SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

The  great  value  of  scientific  research  both  to  the 
industries  and  to  the  nation  at  large  is  now  generally 
recognized  throughout  the  world,  and  the  last  few 
years  have  seen  a  remarkable  increase  in  the  efforts 
made  to  stimulate  the  production  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge. In  1914  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  appointed  a  Committee  of 
One  Hundred  to  inquire  into  the  steps  which  should  be 
taken  for  the  increase  of  scientific  research  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  work  of  this  committee  has 
been  continued  and  greatly  extended  by  the  National 
Research  Council.  The  British  government  has  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  to  deal 
with  the  subject,  and  it  is  announced  that  in  France 
a  new  national  laboratory  on  a  very  large  scale  has  been 
projected.  In  Australia  the  government  has  ap- 
pointed a  special  department  to  consider  what  steps 
should  be  taken  for  the  organization  and  development 
of  research  work  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  Canada 
the  matter  has  been  the  subject  of  government  inquiry 
and  solicitude. 

Among  the  industries  themselves  there  has  been  a 
similar  awakening  to  the  value  of  research.  Many 
industrial  corporations  which  were  not  provided  with 
research  facilities  heretofore  are  making  such  pro- 
vision, while  small  corporations  which  cannot  afford 
to  support  extensive  laboratories  themselves  are  com- 
bining to  maintain  laboratories  doing  work  for  the 
whole  industry.  Research  is  being  supported  by 
governments,  by  private  gifts,  and  by  the  industries, 
and  while  at  the  present  moment  the  intention  of 
most  of  this  research  is  toward  applied  science,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  movement  will  be  accompanied  by 


INTRODUCTION  5 

a  great  awakening  and  extension  of  research  for  the 
increase  of  knowledge  in  pure  science. 

If  one  attempted  to  formulate  the  common  belief 
concerning  the  origin  and  development  of  modern 
technical  industries,  it  would  probably  be  found  that 
stress  would  be  laid  upon  financial  ability  or  manufac- 
turing skill  on  the  part  of  the  founders.  But  if, 
instead,  we  were  to  make  a  historical  survey  of  the 
subject,  we  should  find  that  the  starting  and  develop- 
ment of  most  manufacturing  businesses  depended 
upon  discoveries  and  inventions  made  by  some  indi- 
vidual or  group  of  individuals  who  developed  their 
original  discoveries  into  an  industrial  process.  Indeed , 
if  the  localities  in  which  various  industries  have 
developed  be  marked  on  the  map,  they  will  often  be 
found  to  have  far  more  relation  to  the  accidental 
location,  by  birth  or  otherwise,  of  individuals  than 
to  any  natural  advantages  possessed  by  the  situation 
for  the  particular  industry  concerned.  The  metal- 
lurgical industries,  of  course,  are  situated  chiefly 
near  the  sources  of  the  ores  or  of  coal,  but  why  should 
the  chief  seat  of  the  spinning  industry  be  in  Lancashire 
or  of  modern  optical  industry  in  Jena  except  that  in 
those  places  lived  the  men  who  developed  the  processes 
which  are  used  in  these  industries?  And,  moreover, 
industries  are  frequently  transferred  from  one  locality 
to  another  and  even  from  one  country  to  another  by 
the  development  of  new  processes,  generally  by  new 
individuals  or  groups  of  workers. 

The  history  of  many  industries  is  that  they  were 
originated  and  developed  in  the  first  place  by  some 
man  of  genius  who  was  fully  acquainted  with  the 
practice  of  the  industry  and  with  such  theory  as  was 


6  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

then  known;  that  his  successors  failed  to  keep  up  with 
progress  and  with  the  theory  of  the  cognate  sciences; 
and  that,  sooner  or  later,  some  other  genius  working 
on  the  subject  rapidly  advanced  the  available  knowl- 
edge and  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  development  of 
that  industry  in  another  locality, 

Thus,  in  the  early  days  of  the  technical  industries, 
the  development  of  new  processes  and  methods  was 
often  dependent  upon  some  one  man,  who  frequently 
became  the  owner  of  the,  firm  which  exploited  his 
discoveries.  But,  with  the  increasing  complexity 
of  industry  and  the  parallel  growth  in  the  amount  of 
technical  and  -  scientific  information  necessitating 
greater  specialization,  the  work  of  investigation  and 
development  formerly  performed  by  an  individual, 
has  been  delegated  to  special  departments  of  the 
organization,  one  example  of  which  is  the  modern 
industrial  research  laboratory. 

The  triumphs  which  have  already  been  won  by  these 
research  laboratories  are  common  knowledge.  The 
incandescent  lamp  industry,  for  instance,  originated 
in  the  United  States  with  the  carbon  lamp,  but  was 
nearly  lost  to  the  United  States  when  the  tungsten 
filament  was  developed,  only  to  be  rescued  from  that 
danger  by  the  research  laboratory  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  who  fought  for  the  prize  in  sight 
and  developed  first  the  drawn  wire  filament  and  then 
the  nitrogen  lamp;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  if  the 
theoretical  and  practical  work  of  the  research  labora- 
tory of  the  General  Electric  Company  were  not  kept 
up,  the  American  manufacturers  could  by  no  means 
rest  secure  in  their  industry,  as,  undoubtedly,  later 
developments  in  electric  lighting  will  come  and  the 


INTRODUCTION  7 

industry  might  be  transferred,  in  part  if  not  completely, 
to  the  originators  of  any  improvement.  Manufactur- 
ing concerns,  and  especially  the  powerful,  well  organ- 
ized companies  who  are  the  leaders  of  industry  can, 
of  course,  retain  their  leadership  for  a  number  of  years 
against  smaller  and  less  completely  organized  com- 
petitors, but  eventually  they  can  ensure  their  position 
only  by  having  in  their  employ  men  who  are  competent 
to  keep  in  touch  with  and  to  advance  the  subject,  and 
the  maintenance  of  a  laboratory  staffed  by  such  men 
is  a  final  insurance  against  loss  of  the  control  of  its  in- 
dustry by  any  concern. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  chief  makers  of  photo- 
graphic lenses  were  the  British  firms  whose  owners 
had  been  largely  instrumental  in  developing  the 
early  theory  of  lens  optics,  but  their  position  was  lost 
entirely  as  a  result  of  the  scientific  work  of  the  German 
opticians,  led  by  Ernst  Abbe.  In  a  smaller  division 
of  optical  work,  however,  the  staff  of  Adam  Hilger, 
Limited,  has  been  able  by  its  superior  knowledge  and 
intensive  study  of  the  manufacture  of  modern  spectro- 
scopes to  transfer  a  large  portion  of  the  manufacture 
of  such  instruments  from  Germany  to  England  again. 

The  rare  earth  industry  was,  prior  to  the  war,  con- 
centrated chiefly  in  Germany;  the  manufacture  of  gas 
mantles,  discovered  by  an  Austrian,  developed  an  en- 
tirely new  chemical  industry  which  was  carried  on 
largely  under  German  auspices.  It  seems  to  be 
suggested  by  some  of  the  leaders  of  British  industry 
that  such  specialized  chemical  operations  as  the 
manufacture  of  compounds  of  the  rare  earths  can  be 
transferred  to  Great  Britain  by  the  application  of 
superior  financial  methods  or  better  business  foresight 


8  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

or  even  merely  more  intense  application.  No  one 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  business  men  of  different 
countries  will  believe  that  the  British  manufacturer 
is  lacking  in  financial  capacity,  in  business  foresight 
or  in  application,  but  none  of  these  things  by  them- 
selves will  develop  a  chemical  industry.  The  only 
thing  that  will  attract  and  retain  the  business  is  the 
manufacture  and  development  of  new  and  improved 
products,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  the  use  of 
more  and  better  research  chemists  and  physicists 
than  the  competitor  is  willing  to  employ.  In  fact, 
at  the  present  time  it  seems  to  be  clear  that  the 
future  of  any  industry  depends  upon  its  being  able  to 
command  a  sufficient  supply  of  knowledge  directed 
toward  the  improvement  of  the  product  and  the 
development  of  the  methods  of  that  industry,  and 
that  any  shortcoming  in  this  respect  may  involve 
eventual  failure.  While  this  view  of  the  importance 
of  research  work  to  the  industries  is  now  obtaining 
universal  acceptance,  undoubtedly  many  who  assent 
without  hesitation  to  the  value  of  a  research  laboratory 
still  take  far  too  limited  a  view  of  the  work  which  it 
should  perform. 

Industrial  laboratories  may  be  classified  in  three 
general  divisions: 

1 .  Works  laboratories  exerting  analytical  control  over  materials? 
processes  and  product. 

2.  Industrial  laboratories  working  on  improvements  in  prod- 
uct and  in  processes,  tending  to  lessen  cost  of  production  and 
to  introduce  new  products  on  the  market. 

3.  Laboratories  working  on  pure  theory  and  on  the  funda- 
mental sciences  associated  with  the  industry. 

The  first  class  of  laboratory  is  so  obviously  necessary 
that  practically  all  works  are  so  equipped,  and  fre- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

quently  each  department  of  a  factory  maintains  its 
own  control  laboratory.  Laboratories  of  the  second 
class  are  frequently  termed  "  research "  laboratories 
and  this  type  has  been  very  largely  instrumental  in 
forwarding  the  introduction  of  scientific  control  into 
industry. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  immediate  success  of 
the  application  of  scientific  methods  to  industrial 
processes  has  often  led  the  executives  of  commercial 
enterprises  into  the  belief  that  such  work  along  directly 
practical  lines  is  capable  of  indefinite  extension.  In 
this  belief  a  number  of  laboratories  have  been  started, 
some  of  which,  at  any  rate,  have  been  sources  of  dis- 
appointment in  consequence  of  a  failure  to  grasp  the 
fact  that  if  the  whole  future  of  an  industry  is  dependent 
on  the  work  of  the  research  laboratory,  then  what  is 
required  is  not  merely  an  improvement  in  processes 
or  a  cheapening  in  the  cost  of  manufacture,  but 
fundamental  development  in  the  whole  subject  in 
which  the  manufacturing  firm  is  interested.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  clear  that  something  very  different 
from  the  usual  works  laboratory  will  be  required,  and 
that  in  order  to  obtain  progress  the  work  of  the  re- 
search laboratory  must  be  directed  primarily  toward 
the  fundamental  theory  of  the  subject.  This  is  a 
point  which  has  sometimes  been  overlooked  in  dis- 
cussions of  industrial  scientific  research,  much  stress 
being  generally  laid  upon  the  immediate  returns  which 
can  be  obtained  from  works  laboratories  and  upon  the 
advantage  of  scientific  control  of  the  operations;  but 
in  every  case  where  the  effect  of  research  work  has 
been  very  marked,  that  work  has  been  directed  not 
toward  the  superficial  processes  of  industry,  but  to- 


10  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

ward  the  fundamental  and  underlying  theory  of  the 
subject.  From  Abbe's  work  on  lenses,  and  Abbe  and 
Schott's  work  on  glasses,  to  the  work  of  the  research 
laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Company  on 
the  residual  gases  in  lamp  vacua,  which  resulted  in  the 
production  of  the  nitrogen  tungsten  lamp  and  the 
Coolidge  X-ray  tube,  this  will  be  seen  to  be  true;  and 
we  must  consequently  agree  that  if  industries  would 
retain  their  position  and  make  progress,  they  must 
earnestly  devote  time  and  money  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  fundamental  theory  underlying  the  sub- 
ject in  which  they  are  interested. 

Let  us  consider  some  graded  examples  of  theoretical 
work  in  relation  to  their  application  in  industry. 

First,  let  us  take  the  case  of  such  work  as  that  done 
by  Abbe  on  the  geometrical  laws  which  govern  the 
formation  of  images  by  lenses.  The  connection  be- 
tween this  and  the  manufacture  of  lenses  is  so  obvious 
that  it  is  at  once  manifest  that  the  discovery  of  any 
new  principle  in  the  theory  of  lens  optics  will  react  im- 
mediately upon  construction  in  some  way,  either  in 
the  form  of  a  new  product  or  in  cheaper  forms  of 
construction. 

Next,  let  us  consider  work  on  improved  methods  of 
testing,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  work  done  by  the 
various  bureaus  of  standards  or  research  on  analytical 
methods.  Here  it  can  be  seen  that  only  the  posses- 
sion of  an  accurate  method  of  testing  will  enable  the 
manufacturer  to  improve  his  product  and  to  guarantee 
the  similarity  of  product  made  at  different  times. 
Consider,  for  instance,  the  improvements  in  electrical 
measuring  methods  and  instruments  which  have  made 


INTRODUCTION  11 

available  the  standardized  electrical  equipment  which 
is  now  so  familiar  to  every  one. 

In  the  third  place,  we  may  take  as  an  example  such 
research  work  as  the  study  of  the  relation  between 
inductance  and  capacity  and  the  properties  of  alter- 
nating electrical  circuits,  which  has  had  such  an 
immense  influence  upon  the  design  of  alternating 
current  electrical  machinery.  At  the  present  tune, 
of  course,  this  is  a  recognized  fundamental  portion  of 
electrical  engineering. 

Lastly,  let  us  consider  such  work  as  that  of  the 
universities  on  the  photo-electric  effect,  the  diffraction 
of  X-rays  by  crystals,  or  the  emission  of  electrons  by 
hot  bodies.  Of  these,  the  last  has  already  found 
extremely  important  commercial  application,  the  sec- 
ond one  is  being  adopted  by  several  industrial  re- 
search laboratories  in  studying  the  structure  of  metals, 
alloys,  and  other  crystalline  substances,  while  the  first 
has  not,  up  to  the  present,  found  any  industrial 
application;  yet  it  may  safely  be  prophesied  that  it 
will  be  of  importance  to  industry  within  the  next  ten 
years. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  name  any  class  of  physical 
or  chemical  scientific  work,  from  the  physics  of  the 
atom  to  structural  organic  chemistry,  which  may  not 
sooner  or  later  have  a  direct  application  and  impor- 
tance for  the  industries. 

Research  work  of  this  fundamental  kind  involves  a 
laboratory  very  different  from  the  usual  works  labora- 
tory and  also  investigators  of  a  different  type  from 
those  employed  in  a  purely  industrial  laboratory.  It 
means  a  large,  elaborately  equipped,  and  heavily 
staffed  laboratory  engaged  mainly  on  work  which  for 


12  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

many  years  will  be  unremunerative  and  which,  for  a 
considerable  time  after  its  foundation,  will  obtain  no 
results  at  all  which  can  be  applied  by  the  manufacturer. 
Such  a  laboratory  will  have  a  value  which  will  be 
cumulative  as  its  work  is  continued.  At  the  begin- 
ning it  will  be  of  service  to  the  industry  in  bringing  a 
new  point  of  view  to  bear  on  many  of  the  ^problems; 
it  will  be  of  value  especially  in  establishing  standard 
methods  of  testing  and  standard  specifications  con- 
nected with  the  purchase  of  raw  materials,  while  much 
of  its  energy  may  profitably  be  devoted  toward  the 
investigation  of  the  use  of  the  products  of  the  industry. 
Many  large  industrial  laboratories,  indeed,  are  main- 
tained as  much  in  the  interests  of  the  customers  of  the 
manufacturing  company  as  on  behalf  of  the  produc- 
tion departments.  A  research  laboratory  of  this  type 
will  be  of  value  also  in  ascertaining  the  merits  of  new 
industrial  propositions  of  which  the  value  has  not 
been  commercially  established,  but  all  these  uses  of 
the  laboratory  will  finally  prove  subsidiary  to  its  main 
work  on  fundamental  problems,  and  when  this  main 
line  of  research  begins  to  bear  fruit,  it  will  absorb  the 
energies  both  of  the  laboratory  and  of  the  factory. 
This,  however,  will  take  many  years. 

While  a  large  laboratory,  fully  equipped  for  funda- 
mental research,  represents  the  most  effective  means 
of  prosecuting  industrial  research,  such  a  laboratory 
can  only  be  maintained  by  manufacturing  companies 
of  the  largest  kind,  as  the  cost  of  maintenance  is  very 
heavy  and  only  a  large  company  can  afford  such  an 
expenditure. 

Since  it  is  obviously  undesirable  that  industrial 
research  should  be  confined  to  the  largest  manufactur- 


INTRODUCTION  13 


ing  concerns,  it  is  necessary  that  substitutes  for 
large  research  laboratory  should  be  provided  which 
are  available  for  the  smaller  manufacturing  under- 
takings. This  need  is  met  by  laboratories  of  two 
different  types:  co-operative  laboratories  and  con- 
sulting laboratories. 

Co-operative  laboratories  may  be  arranged  either 
for  an  industry  as  a  whole,  the  different  firms  in  the 
industry  joining  together  to  support  a  research  labo- 
ratory fully  equipped  and  organized  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  research  relating  to  the  industry  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  manufacturing  concerns  interested  in 
various  industries  may  combine  to  support  a  labora- 
tory for  the  investigation  of  some  specific  subject  in 
which  they  have  a  common  interest. 

In  many  countries  the  government  is  proposing  to 
aid  manufacturers  to  carry  on  research  work,  the 
most  noteworthy  example  being  that  of  Great  Britain, 
where  in  1915,  the  government  undertook  the  en- 
couragement and  organization  of  scientific  research 
by  direct  State  action.  The  activities  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  are  sum- 
marized by  its  secretary  as  follows:1 

"First,  it  seeks  to  encourage  the  worker  in  pure  research  by 
looking  for  him  in  the  places  where  he  is  most  likely  to  be  found, 
through  the  eyes  of  individual  men  and  women  who  are  themselves 
engaged  in  research  and  teaching  others  how  to  begin.  When  the 
man  or  woman  has  been  found  who  needs  assistance,  they  receive 
it  in  liberal  measure,  with  no  restrictions  beyond  the  necessity 
of  showing  that  they  are  continuing  their  work.  Secondly,  the 
Department  is  helping  the  firms  in  different  industries  to  co-operate 
with  a  view  to  raising  the  funds  necessary  for  employing  first-rate 
men  of  science  in  the  solution  of  the  problems  with  which  they 

iSiR  FRANK  HEATH,  Jour.  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  1919,  p.  214. 


14  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

are  faced  and  in  the  scientific  development  of  the  industry  in 
question.  In  this  connection  the  Department  is  building  up  a 
clearing-house  of  information  for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned. 
Finally,  the  Department  is  offering  its  assistance,  on  the  one  hand, 
to  other  Government  Departments  who  desire  to  have  research 
undertaken  on  a  scale  and  for  purposes  which  they  cannot  them- 
selves easily  compass.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  organizing  re- 
search into  problems  of  practical  utility,  which  are  of  such  wide 
importance  that  they  cannot  be  handled  by  any  one  section  of  the 
nation.  In  both  regards  it  proceeds  by  delegating  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  conduct  of  this  work  not  to  officials  but  to  boards  of 
experts,  who  are  entrusted  with  the  preparation  of  the  scheme 
of  work,  the  employment  of  the  workers,  and  the  control  of  its 
execution." 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt  as  to  how  far  govern- 
mental organization  of  industrial  research  work  is 
likely  to  be  successful.  The  tendency  of  work  done 
under  governmental  control  is  to  be  too  academic, 
needlessly  expensive,  and  insufficiently  in  contact  with 
the  practical  conditions  of  industrial  life.  Probably, 
however,  these  tendencies  will  be  less  dangerous  to 
research  than  to  other  departments  of  industry,  and 
arguments  against  governmental  organization  of  re- 
search are  merely  arguments  against  any  direct  control 
of  industry  by  the  State,  a  question  with  which  this 
discussion  is  not  concerned. 

One  of  the  great  problems  in  the  organization  of 
research  work  is  the  effective  utilization  of  the  facili- 
ties of  the  universities.  On  the  one  hand,  some  de- 
mand that  the  universities  should  be  prepared  to  take 
up  problems  in  applied  science  of  direct  value  to 
manufacturing  corporations,  while  others  consider  that 
the  research  work  done  in  universities  should  always 
be  strictly  subsidiary  to  and  directly  connected  with 
teaching. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

The  primary  function  of  the  university  is  the  educa- 
tion and  training  of  its  students  and  everything  tend- 
ing toward  this  end  is  therefore  a  necessary  and  proper 
function  of  the  university.  For  the  development  of 
advanced  technical  and  scientific  experts  a  training 
in  the  methods  of  scientific  research  is  agreed  by  all 
to  be  absolutely  necessary,  and  for  this  reason  alone 
research  work  must  be  undertaken  in  university  labo- 
ratories. But,  further,  training  in  the  methods  of 
research  can  only  be  given  by  teachers  who  are  them- 
selves expert  research  workers,  and  for  this  reason 
the  professors  and  instructors  of  the  university  must 
be  engaged  in  research  work  if  they  are  to  ful- 
fill '  their  duties  properly.  The  laboratories  of  the 
universities  must  therefore  always  continue  to  be 
most  important  agencies  for  the  extension  of  scientific 
knowledge. 

There  remain  to  be  considered,  however,  two  ques- 
tions : 

1.  Should  universities  engage  in  research  work  of 
direct  industrial  value  undertaken  with  a  view  to  the 
assistance  of  industry  rather  than  for  its  value  as 
training? 

2.  Should  laboratories  for  the  prosecution  of  research 
in  pure  science  be  attached  to  universities  when  they 
do  not  propose  to  undertake  teaching  at  all,  or  should 
they    be    constituted    as    independent    institutions? 
On  the  whole,  it  is  probably  undesirable  that  those 
departments  of  the  universities  which  are  concerned 
with  the  teaching  of  pure  science  should  continuously 
undertake  industrial  research.     Should  they  do  so, 
it  would  be  likely  to  militate  against  the  effective 
prosecution  of  their  own  work  and  even  to  affect  the 


16  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

value  of  the  teaching  of  the  institution.  At  the  same 
time,  the  universities  will  be  centers  of  scientific 
knowledge  unbiased  by  manufacturing  considerations 
and  containing  large  numbers  of  specialists  whose 
knowledge  is  necessarily  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
industries,  and  the  industries  should  properly  be  in  a 
position  to  make  use  of  the  specialized  knowledge  of 
such  men. 

In  the  departments  of  applied  science,  work  on 
problems  of  importance  in  industry  is  often  of  value 
in  training  students,  since  it  gives  a  feeling  of  reality 
to  their  studies,  which  is  too  often  absent  when  no 
application  can  be  seen.  In  this  connection  Dr. 
Steinmetz  makes  some  very  pertinent  remarks:1 

"Some  research  work  can  be  carried  out  more  efficiently  by 
educational  institutions,  others  by  the  industry.  In  general,  for 
industrial  research,  better  facilities  in  materials  and  in  power  are 
available,  but  high  class  skilled  labor,  of  investigators  and  research 
men,  such  as  is  available  in  university  research  by  the  graduate 
students,  is  expensive  in  the  industry.  Thus  researches  requiring 
little  in  facilities,  but  a  large  amount  of  time  and  attention  of 
research  men,  are  especially  adapted  to  educational  laboratories, 
while  investigations  requiring  large  amounts  of  material  or  of 
power  rather  than  time  of  the  investigators,  are  specifically 
adapted  to  the  industry,  and  often  beyond  the  facilities  of  the 
educational  institution.  Efficiency  thus  should  require  a  division 
of  research  between  educational  and  industrial  laboratories  in 
accordance  with  their  facilities,  and  where  this  is  done,  the  results 
are  splendid.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  phenomena  of  the  dielectric 
field  beyond  the  elastic  limit,  or  in  other  words  those  of  the 
disruptive  effects  in  air  and  other  dielectrics  under  high  electric 
stress,  were  almost  entirely  unknown  a  very  few  years  ago,  and  it 
was  even  unknown  whether  there  is  a  definite  dielectric  strength 

1  C.  P.  STEINMETZ,  Scientific  Research  in  Relation  to  the  Indus- 
tries, Jour.  Franklin  Institute,  December,  1916,  p.  712. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

of  materials,  analogous  to  the  mechanical  strength.  This  field 
has  been  completely  cleared  up,  and  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  dielectric  field  gamed,  not  only  under  steady 
stress,  but  also  under  oscillating  stress,  and  under  the  transient 
stress  of  sudden  electric  blows  or  impulses,  ranging  down  to  the 
time  measured  by  micro-seconds,  as  the  result  largely  of  the  work 
of  an  industrial  research  laboratory — The  Consulting  Engineering 
Laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Company  under  Mr.  F.  W. 
Peck — and  an  educational  laboratory — Johns  Hopkins  University 
under  Professor  Whitehead — both  laboratories  working  independ- 
ently and  devoting  then*  attention  to  those  subjects  for  which 
they  are  specifically  fitted,  though  naturally  often  overlapping 
and  checking  each  other. 

"Unfortunately,  this  limitation  of  research  work  in  accordance 
with  the  available  facilities  is  not  always  realized,  and  especially 
educational  institutions  not  infrequently  attempt  research  work, 
for  which  industrial  laboratories  are  far  better  fitted,  while  research 
work  for  which  the  educational  institution  is  well  fitted,  which  the 
industry  needs  but  cannot  economically  undertake,  is  left  undone. 
It  is  usually  the  desire  to  'do  something  of  industrial  value'  which 
leads  universities  to  undertake  investigations  on  railroading  and 
similar  subjects,  in  which  the  probability  of  adding  something 
material  to  our  knowledge  is  extremely  remote,  or  to  undertake 
investigations  on  industrial  iron  alloys  in  competition  with  the 
vastly  greater  and  more  efficient  research  of  industrial  laboratories 
in  this  field  of  magnetism,  while  all  other  magnetic  research  is 
largely  neglected,  our  knowledge  on  the  phenomena  of  magnetism 
is  therefore  still  very  unsatisfactory,  and  it  is  obvious  that  a 
material  advance  can  be  expected  only  from  a  comprehensive 
study  of  the  entire  field  of  magnetism,  and  the  little  investigated 
non-ferrous  magnetic  materials  thus  would  be  the  ones  most 
requiring  study." 

A  question  of  some  importance  in  this  connection  is 
that  of  the  remuneration  which  should  be  paid  by  the 
industry  for  the  scientific  assistance  which  it  receives. 
Only  too  often  industries  consider  that  they  have  a 
right  to  the  services  of  university  professors  without 


18  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

charge  or  for  a  merely  nominal  fee.  There  seems  to 
be  no  justification  for  this  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  fees  charged  by  university  professors  for  consult- 
ing work  should  be  any  lower  than  those  of  any  other 
professional  man  of  equal  grade.  The  charging  of 
such  low  fees  by  university  teachers  is  further  open 
to  the  criticism  that  it  lowers  the  standard  of  charges 
for  scientific  consultations  and  consequently  makes  it 
difficult  for  scientific  men  unconnected  with  universi- 
ties to  obtain  adequate  compensation. 

There  is  the  danger  that  a  professor  might  be 
tempted  to  do  so  much  industrial  work  that  he  could 
not  attend  adequately  to  the  duties  of  his  post. 
This  difficulty  is  met  in  other  professional  positions 
by  a  rule  preventing  a  man  from  doing  outside  work, 
and  if  this  rule  is  to  be  relaxed  in  the  case  of  univer- 
sity professors,  means  for  meeting  the  danger  must  be 
devised,  since  every  one  with  much  university  ex- 
perience must  have  met  cases  where  the  work  of  a 
department  was  neglected  as  a  result  of  the  outside 
interests  of  its  head. 

•  Closely  associated  with  this  difficulty,  of  course,  is 
the  low  rate  of  payment  at  present  received  by  uni- 
versity professors,  a  rate  so  low  that  men  are  con- 
stantly tempted  to  enter  industrial  work  altogether  or 
to  supplement  their  income  by  a  large  amount  of  con- 
sulting work,  and  an  increase  in  the  standard  of  pay- 
ment of  university  professors  is  urgently  necessary 
if  the  universities  are  to  retain  good  men  in  competi- 
tion with  the  industries.  It  is  not  necessary  for  a 
university  to  pay  as  much  as  a  business  corporation, 
since  the  amenities  of  university  life,  the  considerable 
vacations  and  the  standing  of  the  university  professor 


INTRODUCTION  19 

will  always  be  advantages  compensating  some  dis- 
advantage in  payment,  but  it  will  certainly  be  neces- 
sary for  the  universities  to  pay  their  scientific  staffs 
far  more  generously  than  has  been  the  case  in  the  past. 

It  is  possible  that  the  difficulties  of  industrial  re- 
search hi  universities  may  be  met  by  the  university 
departments  acting  as  consulting  research  laboratories 
for  those  industrial  concerns  which  require  such 
assistance,  the  fees  received  going  to  the  department 
and  not  to  the  individual  men,  and  being  used  for  the 
increase  of  salaries  and  for  the  support  of  research 
work  generally.  In  one  interesting  experiment  in 
industrial  research  conducted  by  a  university,  that 
of  the  Engineering  Experimental  Station  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  cost  fees  only  are  charged  even 
for  such  directly  industrial  work  as  the  testing  of 
materials.  The  University  is  supported  by  the  State 
of  Illinois  and  considers  it  to  be  itsMuty  to  serve  the 
industries  of  the  State  without  profit.  Most  of  the 
work  of  the  Station  is  carried  on  by  graduate  research 
assistants,  fourteen  such  assistants  being  paid  a 
stipend  of  $500  a  year  by  the  University  to  devote 
half  their  tune  to  research  work,  the  other  half  being 
spent  in  post-graduate  study. 

The  desirability  of  organizing  research  in  pure 
science  in  the  form  of  research  institutes  attached  to 
universities  seems  to  be  generally  considered  to  be 
beyond  question,  but  this  is  not  quite  the  case 

For  the  proper  development  of  research  in  pure 
science  there  is  necessary  the  establishment  of  posi- 
tions in  which  men  can  devote  their  whole  lives  to  the 
study  of  scientific  problems,  unhampered  by  the  need 
for  their  application  or  by  financial  embarrassments. 


20  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

For  creative  work  in  fundamental  science  there  is 
perhaps  necessary  an  atmosphere  of  detachment  and 
concentration  upon  a  specific  problem,  which  can 
only  be  obtained  hi  a  university  or  other  academic 
sphere,  and  it  is  essential  that  a  man  who  has  the 
capacity  for  original  thought  should  be  able  to  attain 
to  a  position  where  the  development  of  his  ideas  for  a 
long  period,  unhampered  by  external  disturbances, 
may  be  possible.  The  need  for  such  opportunities 
has  often  been  pleaded,  notably  by  J.  J.  Carty1  and 
W.  R.  Whitney.2  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that 
such  research  positions  should  necessarily  be  estab- 
lished in  connection  with  universities.  The  advan- 
tages of  a  university  connection  are  the  academic 
atmosphere,  the  contact  with  minds  working  in  other 
fields  of  knowledge,  and  the  stimulus  provided  by  a 
strictly  limited  amount  of  teaching. ,  On  the  other 
hand,  the  university  connection  may  easily  absorb 
much  of  the  time  of  the  research  workers  for  academic 
or  administrative  duties,  may  vex  their  souls  by  re- 
strictions and  red  tape,  and  may  limit  the  extension 
of  the  work  which  would  otherwise  come  as  conse- 
quence of  success.  It  is  certain  that  in  future  much 
research  in  pure  science  will  be  done  by  the  universi- 
ties, but  it  is  possible  that  the  establishment  of  re- 
search institutes  for  work  in  pure  science  having  no 
direct  academic  connection  might  prove  a  profitable 
experiment. 

However  the  provision  for  research  work  in  the 
universities  may  be  extended,  it  is  undesirable  that 

1  J.  J.  CARTY,  The  Relation  of  Pure  Science  to  Industrial  Research, 
Presidential  Address  to  Amer.  Inst.  E.  E.,  19 16,, 

2  W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Eng.,  1917,  v.  123,  p.  245. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

the  industries  should  rely  upon  the  universities  to  do 
the  fundamental  work  required  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  industry  itself.  The  application  of  science 
to  industry  is  essentially  a  function  of  the  organization 
of  industry  and  cannot  effectively  be  transferred  to 
other  agencies  such  as  those  suitable  for  teaching  or 
for  the  creation  of  original  knowledge.  It  is  more- 
over vital  to  the  future  of  research  that  the  universi- 
ties should  be  strengthened  and  supported  for  then- 
own  work,  and  that  any  diversion  of  then*  energies 
should  be  resisted. 
As  F.  B.  Jewett  says,1 

"The  matter  of  an  adequate  supply  of  properly  equipped  and 
trained  investigators  and  directors  of  research  is  absolutely  vital 
to  the  growth  of  industrial  research,  and  I  am  as  sure  as  one  can  be 
of  anything  in  the  world  that  all  of  our  visions  of  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  a  large  expansion  of  industrial  research  will  come  to 
naught  if  we  fail  to  realize  or  neglect  the  fact  that  in  the  last 
analysis  we  are  dependent  absolutely  upon  the  mental  productivity 
of  men,  and  men  alone,  and  that  we  must,  in  consequence,  provide 
adequately  for  a  continuous  supply  of  well  trained  workers." 

It  is  possible  that  the  supply  of  trained  men  may 
best  be  increased  and  the  universities  strengthened  by 
direct  financial  support  from  the  industries  and  by  the 
maintenance  at  the  universities  of  advanced  research 
workers  studying  problems  of  general  fundamental 
interest  of  which  the  results  are  freely  published.  It 
is,  of  course,  necessary  that  such  support  of  the  uni- 
versities by  industries  should  not  degenerate  into  any 
form  of  control  for  commercial  purposes. 

*F.  B.  JEWETT,  Trans.  Roy.  Can.  Inst.,  1919,  p.  117. 


CHAPTER  II 
TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES 

The  agencies  engaged  in  scientific  research  are  of 
several  kinds.  In  this,  as  in  other  fields  of  human 
activity,  the  work  has  been  undertaken  by  those  who 
felt  the  need  for  the  results  which  it  was  hoped  to 
achieve;  and  the  degree  to  which  research  work  has 
been  associated  with  other  institutions  has  always 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  those  institutions  felt  the 
need  of  research  work  for  then-  own  essential  duties. 

The  earliest  scientific  men  were  ecclesiastics,  who 
regarded  the  knowledge  which  they  derived  from  their 
inquiries  as  a  means  of  developing  the  fullness  of  the 
religious  belief  both  of  themselves  and  of  those  whom 
they  taught,  and  who  felt  that  the  disclosing  of  the 
marvels  of  natural  science  was  a  fitting  part  of  worship. 
As  the  advance  of  knowledge  came  to  demand  greater 
and  greater  modification  of  creeds  and  dogmas,  so 
that  the  increase  of  knowledge,  instead  of  being  an 
advantage  to  any  particular  religious  body,  became 
a  danger  in  that  it  might  introduce  dissension  and 
doubt,  the  ecclesiastical  world  abandoned  the  pursuit 
of  natural  science;  and  the  mantle  which  the  church 
dropped  fell  upon  the  university. 

The  readiness  of  the  university  to  accept  the  burden 
of  being  responsible  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
was  due  essentially  to  the  fact  that  the  results  ob- 
tained were  immediately  applicable  to  the  purpose  of 
teaching,  and  that,  indeed,  only  by  assiduous  investi- 

22 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  23 

gation  and  discovery  could  the  facts  of  natural  science 
be  sufficiently  correlated  to  make  it  possible  to  pre- 
sent them  in  orderly  manner  so  that  they  could  be 
understood  by  the  immature  minds  with  which  a  uni- 
versity has  to  deal.  This  necessity  for  continual 
investigation  on  the  part  of  a  teacher  was  so  marked, 
and  the  success  of  teachers  who  themselves  were  en- 
gaged in  investigation  was  so  pronounced,  that  it  was 
generally  recognized  that  the  best  advanced  training 
in  science  could  be  obtained  only  under  a  man  who  was 
himself  actively  engaged  in  promoting  the  science 
which  he  taught. 

At  the  present  time,  however,  science  has  advanced 
in  all  directions  to  such  wide  boundaries  that  the 
teacher  cannot  expound  to  his  students  the  matters 
which  are  under  investigation  at  the  time  at  which 
he  is  teaching,  and,  indeed,  the  matters  taught,  even 
in  advanced  classes,  are  often  those  on  which  the 
investigation  has  been  carried  ten  or  fifteen  years 
beyond  sthe  point  at  which  the  teacher  must  deal  with 
the  subject.  While  the  teacher  must,  therefore,  con- 
tinue investigation  both  for  its  beneficial  effects  upon 
his  own  habits  of  thought  and  for  the  advantage  which 
his  students  will  gain  from  close  association  with 
original  investigation,  it  is  no  longer  the  duty  of  the 
universities  alone  to  provide  for  the  expansion  of 
knowledge.  That  expansion  is  no  longer  required 
primarily  for  the  assistance  of  the  teacher;  it  is  re- 
quired for  the  development  of  civilization  as  a  whole 
and  especially  of  industry,  and  the  provision  for  its 
expansion  would  therefore  seem  to  be  incumbent 
upon  the  leaders  of  industry  themselves,  and  hi  the 
case  of  knowledge  which  has  no  direct  application  to 


24  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

industry  at  the  time,  upon  the  leaders  of  the  people  as 
a  whole,  that  is,  upon  the  governments  of  the  world. 

There  are  seven  principal  types  of  research  labora- 
tories which  have  been  developed  hitherto:1 

1.  University  laboratories. 

2.  Government  research  laboratories. 

3.  Foundation  research  laboratories. 

4.  Industrial  research  laboratories  maintained  by 
individual  firms. 

5.  Co-operative  research  laboratories. 

6.  Industrial  fellowship  laboratories. 

7.  Private  consulting  research  laboratories. 

If  we  consider  the  work  undertaken  in  these  va- 
rious laboratories  we  find  that  the  above  classification, 
which  is  based  on  the  nature  of  the  agency  support- 
ing the  laboratory,  has  little  relation  to  the  work  done. 
Neither  does  the  object  with  which  research  is  under- 
taken form  a  definite  guide  to  the  nature  of  the  work 
done  in  the  various  types  of  laboratory,  since  there  is 
little  distinction  between  the  work  done  in  some  uni- 
versity laboratories  and  some  industrial  laboratories, 
and  the  work  of  the  government  and  institutional 
laboratories  again  overlaps  that  of  the  two  former 
classes. 

The  research  work  on  photometry  done  at  Nela 
Park  and  at  Cornell  University  is  of  the  same  kind, 
and  work  on  physical  chemistry  or  on  the  structure  of 
chemical  compounds  is  of  the  same  type,  requires  the 
same  class  of  workers  and  produces  the  same  results, 
whether  it  be  done  in  a  university,  in  a  laboratory  of 

1  See  P.  G.  NUTTING,  Institutes  of  Applied  Science.  J.  Franklin 
Inst.,  1919,  p.  487. 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  25 

the  Carnegie  Institute  or  in  such  an  industrial  labo- 
ratory as  that  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 

A  classification  of  laboratories  which  is  sometimes 
useful  is  obtained  from  consideration  whether  the 
problems  investigated  in  a  laboratory  are  all  connected 
with  one  common  subject  or  whether  the  problems  are 
of  many  kinds,  having  no  connecting  bond  of  interest. 
The  first  type  of  laboratory  might  be  called  "uni- 
purpose"  or  " convergent"  and  the  second  " multi- 
purpose" or  "  divergent." 

In  the  divergent  group  of  laboratories  are  included 
all  research  institutions  which  are  interested  in  science 
in  general  or  in  science  as  applied  to  industry  and 
which  will  attack  any  problem  which  may  seem  to 
promise  progress  in  knowledge  or,  in  the  case  of  an 
industrial  laboratory,  financial  return.  Most  uni- 
versity laboratories  are  of  this  type.  When  they 
devote  themselves  to  special  problems  it  is  usually 
because  of  the  predilection  of  some  professor,  and  as  a 
general  i*ule,  a  student  or  instructor  may  choose  any 
problem  in  the  whole  field  of  the  science  in  which  he 
is  working,  and  may  carry  out  an  investigation  on  that 
problem,  if  he  be  interested  in  it,  without  regard  to  the 
relation  of  his  work  to  the  other  work  of  the  laboratory. 

Correspondingly,  in  most  industrial  laboratories 
the  problems  investigated  are  those  which  present 
themselves  as  a  result  of  factory  experiences  or  of  sug- 
gestions from  the  men  working  in  the  laboratory  and 
which  promise  financial  return,  the  different  problems 
carried  on  in  the  same  laboratory  not  necessarily  being 
related  in  any  way  whatever. 

The  greater  number  of  university  and  industrial 
laboratories  are  necessarily  of  this  type.  It  would  be  a 


26  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

disadvantage  for  a  university  laboratory,  whose  pri- 
mary business  is  training  students,  to  be  too  narrowly 
specialized.  Specialized  university  laboratories  are 
desirable  only  in  the  case  of  post-graduate  students, 
and  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  allow  the  laboratories 
responsible  for  the  general  training  of  scientific  men 
to  specialize  in  one  branch  of  science,  since  as  a  result 
the  students  would  acquire  a  proper  acquaintance 
with  only  a  limited  portion  of  their  subject. 

Industrial  laboratories,  on  the  other  hand,  must 
necessarily  be  prepared  to  deal  with  any  problems 
presented  by  the  works,  and  as  these  will  be  of  all 
kinds,  covering  generally  the  whole  field  of  physics, 
chemistry  and  engineering,  it  is  impossible  for  many 
works  laboratories  to  specialize  except  in  so  far  as 
they  deal  with  the  works  processes  themselves. 

In  the  " convergent"  laboratories,  however,  al- 
though the  actual  investigations  may  cover  as  great 
a  range  of  science  as  those  undertaken  in  a  divergent 
laboratory,  all  these  investigations  are  directed  toward 
a  common  end;  that  is,  toward  the  elucidation  of 
associated  problems  related  to  one  subject.  Thus,  the 
staff  of  the  Geophysical  Laboratory,  which  includes 
physicists,  geologists,  crystallographers,  mineralo- 
gists and  chemists,  works  on  the  structure  of  the  rocks 
and  their  manner  of  formation;  and  although  the  field 
of  the  actual  investigations  ranges  from  high  tempera- 
ture photometry  to  study  of  complex  solubility  dia- 
grams and  their  interpretation  on  thermodynamical 
principles  the  results  of  all  the  work  carried  out  are 
converged  on  the  problem  of  the  structure  and  forma- 
tion of  the  earth's  crust. 

The  Nela  Park  Laboratory,  in  the  same  way,  is 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  27 

studying  the  production,  distribution  and  measure- 
ment of  illumination,  and  all  its  work,  which  may 
involve  physiology,  physics  and  chemistry,  is  related 
to  that  one  subject.  Such  convergent  laboratories 
sometimes  develop  in  universities  owing  to  the  intense 
interest  of  a  professor  in  a  single  subject  and  to  the 
enthusiasm  which  inspires  students  and  assistants  to 
collaborate  with  him  and  to  concentrate  all  their 
energies  on  the  same  group  of  problems.  Among 
examples  of  such  laboratories  may  be  named  most  of 
those  which  have  become  famous  in  the  history  of 
science.  Emil  Fischer's  laboratory,  which  for  some 
time  was  concerned  with  the  sugars  and  later  took 
up  the  study  of  the  proteins,  Ostwald's  laboratory 
at  Leipzig,  Kayser's  laboratory  at  Bonn,  the  labora- 
tories of  Curie,  Ramsay  and  Rutherford,  dealing  with 
radio-activity,  the  Cavendish  laboratory  at  Cam- 
bridge, the  Wolcott  Gibbs  laboratory  at  Harvard, 
dealing  with  the  determination  of  atomic  weights  and 
with  the  physico-chemical  properties  of  the  elements, 
and  the  low  temperature  research  laboratories  of  Kam- 
merlingh  Onnes  and  of  James  Dewar,  are  but  the  better 
known  cases  selected  from  a  great  number. 

Astronomy  furnishes  us  with  an  example  of  a  science 
in  which  not  only  is  ultra-laboratory  co-operation 
complete,  since  almost  all  the  great  astronomical 
observatories  are  working  on  some  selected  group  of 
problems,  but  inter-laboratory  co-operation  has  also 
been  developed,  since,  by  means  of  the  International 
Union  for  Solar  Research,  and  other  institutions  of  the 
same  kind,  the  astronomical  observatories  throughout 
the  world  co-operate  and  exchange  results  to  a  higher 
degree  than  obtains  in  any  other  science.  The  great 


28  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

progress  which  has  been  made  recently  in  astronomy 
is  due  not  only  to  the  munificent  foundations  which 
have  facilitated  research  in  this  subject  but  also  to 
the  well  organized  co-operation  both  inside  and  out- 
side the  observatories  which  is  characteristic  of  this 
branch  of  science. 

As  a  rule,  therefore,  institutional  and  foundational 
laboratories  will  be  of  the  convergent  type,  since  they 
are  established  to  deal  exhaustively  with  a  special 
field  of  science.  Many  industrial  research  laboratories 
will  also  tend  toward  the  convergence  of  their  work, 
and  co-operative  laboratories  serving  an  industry 
or  engaged  in  a  specific  field  of  research  will  be  of  the 
convergent  type.  On  the  other  hand,  university, 
governmental  and  consulting  laboratories  will  be 
divergent  rather  than  convergent  in  their  aims  and 
organization,  and  most  works  laboratories  will  neces- 
sarily be  of  this  type. 

The  national  research  laboratories  supported  by  the 
governments  are  of  the  greatest  value  and  importance. 
The  governments  of  the  large  countries  have  already 
recognized  that  the  maintenance  of  standards  of 
length,  time  and  mass,  standards  of  quality,  specifica- 
tions of  materials,  standards  of  performance,  and  the 
determination  of  physical  constants  which  are  required 
for  the  whole  commerce  of  a  nation  must  be  under- 
taken by  some  laboratory  which  shall  have  the  author- 
ity given  by  government  sanction.  The  Reichsanstalt 
in  Germany,  the  Laboratoire  Centrale  d'Electricite"  in 
France,  the  National  Physical  Laboratory  in  England, 
and  the  Bureau  of  Standards  at  Washington  represent 
the  four  great  national  laboratories  maintained  for  this 
purpose,  while  the  Bureau  International  de  Poids  et 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  29 

Mesures  at  Sevres  has  resulted  from  the  co-operation 
of  all  countries  for  the  maintenance  of  one  inter- 
national laboratory  where  the  primary  standards  of 
the  world  are  maintained. 

The  work  of  these  national  standard  laboratories  is 
extended  to  cover  many  branches  of  scientific  research 
which  have  developed  from  their  original  fields  of 
investigation.  The  Bureau  of  Standards,  for  instance, 
is  now  a  very  large  laboratory,  the  total  cost  consider- 
ably exceeding  $1,000,000,  and  its  annual  mainte- 
nance cost  being  about  $600,000. 

Another  function  of  these  government  laboratories  is 
to  act  as  consulting  laboratories  for  the  government 
departments,  advising  them  as  to  specifications  for 
materials  and  making  tests  on  the  materials  purchased. 
The  need  for  such  a  laboratory,  indeed,  was  the  cause 
of  the  establishment  of  the  National  Physical  Labora- 
tory, the  greater  part  of  its  work  on  standards  being 
transferred  to  it  later.  Recently,  these  laboratories 
have  still  further  extended  their  fields  of  work,  and  are 
now  doing  research  work  for  government  departments 
comparable  with  the  industrial  research  required  by 
manufacturing  corporations;  thus,  some  time  ago  at 
the  National  Physical  Laboratory  there  was  installed 
a  water  tank  for  testing  the  properties  of  ship  models, 
this  being  intended  partly  for  warship  design  but  more 
especially  for  the  assistance  of  private  ship  builders; 
and  the  laboratory  erected  aero-dynamical  tunnels  for 
experiments  on  the  design  of  aircraft  and  the  proper- 
ties of  aircraft  propellers,  engines,  etc.  Under  war 
conditions  these  national  laboratories  have,  of  course, 
assumed  great  importance,  many  of  the  problems 
arising  from  the  war  being  referred  to  them.  The 


30  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

National  Physical  Laboratory,  especially,  has  grown 
very  greatly  since  1914. 

In  the  United  States,  certain  branches  of  industry 
are  of  such  importance  that  separate  sections  of  the 
government  have  been  formed  to  deal  with  them,  and 
in  some  cases  these  have  established  laboratories 
which  are  supported  by  the  federal  government. 
Thus,  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  which  has  for  its  object 
the  welfare  of  workers  in  the  mining  industries  and  the 
improvement  and  prevention  of  waste  in  procuring 
and  utilizing  mineral  resources,  carries  on  a  large 
amount  of  research  work,  especially  as  regards  fuel 
research  and  the  testing  of  mining  explosives.  Re- 
cently, this  bureau,  in  co-operation  with  the  National 
Radium  Institute,  has  undertaken  the  extraction  of 
radium  from  carnotite  ores  found  in  the  United 
States,  developing  some  new  methods  for  the  process 
and  successfully  preparing  large  quantities  of  radium 
salts  which  have  been  applied  to  medical  work.  The 
largest  research  institution  in  the  world  is  that  main- 
tained by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, which  has  experimental  stations  in  various  parts 
of  the  country  supported  partly  by  the  individual 
states  and  partly  by  funds  from  the  federal  govern- 
ment. These  stations  are  usually  associated  with 
the  State  universities  and  undertake  all  kinds  of 
experimental  work,  from  pure  chemical  and  biological 
research  to  the  training  of  agriculturists  and  the 
dissemination  of  information  in  the  simplest  and  most 
practical  form  to  the  farmers.  In  connection  with  the 
forest  service  section  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
there  is  established  in  co-operation  with  the  University 
of  Wisconsin  a  Forest  Products  Laboratory  which 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  31 

carries  on  investigations  in  connection  with  the  wood- 
using  industries,  a  large  amount  of  work  being  done 
on  the  manufacture  of  paper  and  the  production  of 
alcohol  from  waste  timber. 

Next  to  the  government  laboratories  the  most  im- 
portant agencies  outside  the  universities  for  the  pro- 
motion of  research  in  pure  science  are  the  laboratories 
supported  by  benevolent  foundations.  In  the  United 
States  there  are  two  such  great  foundations,  the 
Rockefeller  Institute,  which  is  distinguished  espe- 
cially for  its  research  in  preventive  medicine,  and 
the  Carnegie  Institution,  noted  particularly  for  its 
investigation  in  certain  branches  of  pure  physics 
and  of  some  fields  of  biology.  These  institutes  are 
models  of  well  administered  research  in  pure  science. 
The  organization  of  the  Carnegie  Institution  consists 
of  a  number  of  convergent  laboratories,  each  devoted 
to  some  very  important  group  of  scientific  problems 
on  which  the  whole  energy  of  the  laboratory  is  cen- 
tered. These  laboratories  are  directed  by  capable 
research  men,  and  then*  staffs  contain  men  of  the 
highest  scientific  distinction.  The  whole  of  their 
energy  is  devoted  to  scientific  research,  the  only  pur- 
pose of  the  institution  being  the  promotion  of  knowl- 
edge, and  the  results  which  have  been  obtained 
completely  justify  the  greatest  hopes  which  the  donor 
may  have  entertained.  The  chief  laboratories  sup- 
ported by  the  Carnegie  Institution  are  the  Solar 
Physics  Research  Laboratory  at  Mount  Wilson,  the 
greatest  observatory  in  the  world;  the  Geophysical 
Laboratory,  devoted  to  the  investigation  of  the 
structure  of  the  rocks  and  the  earth's  crust;  the 
Laboratory  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  which  operates 


32  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

in  connection  with  a  non-magnetic  ship  of  sea-going 
capacity;  laboratories  for  experimental  evolution,  for 
botanical  research,  for  embryology;  and  an  important 
station  in  the  Tortugas  for  the  study  of  marine  biology . 
There  are  also  departments  for  research  in  history, 
economics  and  sociology;  and  the  Institute  further 
aids  in  the  promotion  of  scientific  work  outside  its 
own  organization,  and  especially  in  the  publication 
of  papers  of  scientific  importance  for  which  a  limited 
circulation  is  expected. 

If  the  governments  of  the  world  ever  really  come  to 
believe  that  the  promotion  of  scientific  knowledge  is  a 
function  of  government,  it  would  seem  that  some  such 
scheme  as  that  of  the  Carnegie  Institution — magnified 
in  extent,  of  course — would  furnish  the  best  starting 
point  for  the  establishment  of  a  national  system  of 
research  in  pure  science.  This  may  seem  Utopian 
until  it  is  realized  that  the  income  of  the  Carnegie 
Institution  is  only  about  $1,000,000  per  annum,  and, 
in  comparison  with  national  expenditure,  an  expendi- 
ture of  many  times  this  amount  for  the  development 
of  scientific  knowledge  would  not  seem  a  very  rash 
experiment.  Such  a  national  institute  would  be  of  the 
utmost  value  to  the  universities  on  the  one  hand  and 
to  industrial  research  on  the  other,  partly  as  forming  a 
reservoir  of  men  but  especially  as  forming  a  reservoir 
of  knowledge  from  which  both  these  important 
sections  of  the  communal  life  could  draw. 

In  addition  to  the  Rockefeller  and  Carnegie  Insti- 
tutes there  are  a  number  of  endowed  observatories  in 
the  United  States;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  readiness  of 
wealthy  Americans  to  endow  observatories  which  has 
placed  the  United  States  in  the  first  rank  in  astron- 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES      33 

omy  in  the  world;  and  there  are  a  certain  number 
of  other  funds  from  which  grants  can  be  made  to 
investigators. 

In  Germany,  until  recently,  scientific  research  was 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  universities,  which  were  very 
fully  endowed  for  the  purpose  and  which  it  became 
the  ambition  of  all  other  nations  to  rival  in  the  mass 
and  quality  of  then*  production.  In  1910,  however, 
the  scientific  men  of  the  German  empire  decided  that 
an  even  more  intensive  effort  to  support  scientific 
research  and  especially  research  hi  pure  science  should 
be  made,  and  this  took  the  form  of  the  foundation  of 
the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Gesellschaft,  which  was  endowed 
by  the  commercial  magnates  of  the  German  empire 
in  order  to  carry  on  scientific  research  on  a  very  large 
scale.  The  financial  support  for  this  institute  was 
derived  from  the  subscriptions  of  the  members,  the 
entrance  fee  to  membership  being  $5000,  and  the 
annual  subscription  $250.  At  the  beginning  there  was 
founded  a  chemical  institute,  under  the  directorship 
of  Professor  Beckmann,  and  several  biological  and 
archaeological  institutes.  The  president  of  the  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  Gesellschaft  was  Dr.  Harnacke,  the  first  vice- 
presidents  Herr  Krupp  von  Bohlen  and  Dr.  Delbriick. 

Industrial  laboratories  in  some  form  or  other  are 
maintained  by  a  great  number  of  manufacturing  con- 
cerns, but  for  the  purposes  of  this  discussion  we  may 
ignore  all  those  laboratories  which  are  not  concerned 
with  pure  research  and  which  deal  only  with  the 
testing  of  raw  material  or  the  control  of  product. 

Industrial  research  laboratories  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  term  may  be  created  and  maintained  for  the 
following  objects: 


34  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

The  elimination  of  manufacturing  troubles; 

The  investigation  of  possible  new  products; 

The  development  of  standard  methods  of  testing 
or  specifications  for  the  purchase  of  raw  materials; 

The  investigation  of  new  industrial  propositions 
of  which  the  value  has  not  been  commercially  estab- 
lished ; 

The  investigation  of  new  methods  of  using  prod- 
ucts or  of  improved  methods  of  operating  for  the 
benefit  of  the  customers  of  the  firm; 

Fundamental  scientific  research  having  an  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  technique  of  the  subject  with 
which  the  industrial  corporation  is  concerned. 

These  industrial  laboratories  are  of  many  different 
sizes  and  types.  There  are  in  some  firms  very  small 
laboratories  operated  by  only  one  or  two  men, 
which  nevertheless  are  doing  important  scientific 
work;  there  are  very  large  laboratories  which  are 
doing  equally  important  scientific  work;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  there  are  laboratories  which  do 
practically  no  work  of  general  value,  concerning 
themselves  only  with  the  specific  problems  of  direct 
commercial  importance  to  the  corporations  which 
support  them. 

The  number  of  research  laboratories  doing  in- 
dustrial work  is  probably  far  greater  than  is 
generally  realized.  A  very  useful  resume  of  the  chief 
industrial  laboratories  of  the  United  States  is  given 
by  Mr.  Fleming  in  his  paper  on  industrial  research 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  but  there  are 
necessarily  a  considerable  number  of  laboratories 
which  did  not  come  to  his  notice,  since  the  work 


TYPES  OF  RESEARCH  LABORATORIES  35 

done  in  them  is  not  published  and  little  mention  is 
made  of  their  investigations.1 

Judging  from  the  British  scientific  press,  it  is  com- 
monly believed  that  research  laboratories  on  a  large 
scale  do  not  exist  in  the  British  Isles,  or  did  not  exist 
there  prior  to  the  war.  This  is,  of  course,  an  error. 
For  many  years  some  of  the  British  firms  have  been 
doing  scientific  research  of  a  very  high  order,  but  as  a 
general  rule,  although  much  of  the  work  was  published 
in  the  scientific  journals  and  many  of  the  products  of 
that  work  have  been  of  value  to  British  commerce, 
the  firms  were  not  anxious  to  advertise  the  work  of 
their  laboratories.  It  is  only  when  a  firm  considers 
that  the  possession  of  a  research  laboratory  is  of 
advertising  value  that  its  existence  is  likely  to  be- 
come widely  known  to  the  general  public.  Some  of 
the  American  firms  have  conducted  publicity  cam- 
paigns informing  their  customers  of  the  existence  of 
their  research  laboratories  and  of  the  value  that  they 
should  be  to  their  customers  as  well  as  to  themselves, 
and  the  fact  that  this  has  not  been  done  by  many 
British  firms  has  probably  led  to  an  underestimate 
of  the  value  of  the  work  already  done  in  Great  Britain. 

The  laboratories  which  are  supported  by  a  number 
of  co-operating  industrial  firms  with  or  without 
assistance  from  governments,  promise  to  become  so 
numerous  and  important  that  it  has  seemed  better 
to  consider  them  separately  in  the  next  chapter. 

1  Much  more  complete  lists  are  given  by  A.  D.  FLINN,  Proc.  Am. 
Soc.  for  Test.  Mat.,  vol.  xviii,  Part  II,  1918  and  by  A.  GREENE, 
Proc.  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  June,  1919. 


CHAPTER  III 
CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES 

Since  the  support  of  a  research  laboratory  by  a 
manufacturing  company  involves  a  considerable 
expenditure,  it  seems  natural  that  a  number  of  firms 
having  common  interests  should  combine  to  support 
such  a  laboratory  and  should  thus  form  a  co-operative 
research  association. 

Three  forms  of  co-operative  laboratory  have  been 
developed. 

Co-operative  laboratories  supported  by  a  group 
of  manufacturing  firms  interested  in  a  common  indus- 
try, the  financial  arrangements  being  operated  by 
means  of  a  trade  association,  either  pre-existent  or 
formed  for  the  purpose. 

Research  institutes  maintained  by  an  independent 
body  such  as  a  university  but  in  which  the  research 
work  itself  is  financed  by  industrial  firms  to  whom 
the  results  obtained  belong,  this  financing  usually 
taking  the  form  of  industrial  fellowships  founded  for 
specific  investigations. 

Consulting  research  laboratories  maintained  as 
private  ventures  and  carrying  on  research  work  at 
fixed  rates  or. on  a  percentage  basis. 

The  first  form  of  laboratory  has  been  represented 
for  some  years  by  the  laboratory  of  the  National 
Canners'  Association,  which  was  established  in 
Washington  to  study  the  problems  of  the  canning 
industry  and  which  has  been  so  successful  that  it  is 

36 


COOPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  37 

now  considered  one  of  the  assets  of  the  industry. 
This  type  of  laboratory  has  been  adopted  by  the 
British  Department  of  Scientific  and  Industrial 
Research.  The  proposals  of  that  department  will 
be  considered  later. 

The  original  research  institute  in  which  research 
work  could  be  carried  on  by  a  number  of  industrial 
firms  was  founded  by  Professor  R.  K.  Duncan  at  the 
University  of  Kansas  and  transferred  by  him  to  the 
University  of  Pittsburgh,  where  the  Mellon  Institute 
was  erected  and  endowed  to  form  a  permanent  home 
for  the  work.  This  institute  has  been  copied  in 
several  places  and  the  Research  Institute  proposed 
by  the  Research  Council  of  Canada  is  based  on  it. 

Consulting  research  laboratories,  such  as  that  of 
Arthur  D.  Little,  Inc.  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  or  the  Elec- 
trical Testing  Laboratory  in  New  York  and  others, 
have  been  very  successful  in  special  fields  and  meet  a 
need  for  which  no  other  form  of  laboratory  is  adapted. 

In  addition  to  these  types  of  laboratory  it  seems 
probable  that  a  fourth  form,  which  would  differ  in 
that  it  would  be  strictly  convergent  hi  type,  may  have 
a  considerable  future. 

In  this  chapter  these  four  types  of  laboratory  are 
therefore  discussed,  and  since  the  British  Department 
of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  has  made  an 
exhaustive  study  of  the  subject  and  has  finally  adopted 
a  definite  type  of  research  association,  it  will  be  well  to 
study  their  work  first. 

In  July,  1915  a  committee  of  the  Privy  Council  was 
established  to  promote  scientific  and  industrial  re- 
search in  the  British  Isles,  and  at  once  appointed  an 
Advisory  Council  of  eminent  scientific  men,  which  has 


38  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

since  been  the  active  agent  in  organizing  the  work. 
In  the  first  report1  the  Advisory  Council  refer  to  the 
establishment  of  the  committee  thus:  "The  State 
had  thus  recognized  the  necessity  for  organizing 
the  national  brain  power  in  the  interests  of  the  nation 
at  peace.  The  necessity  for  the  central  control  of  our 
machinery  for  war  had  been  obvious  for  centuries,  but 
the  essential  unity  of  the  knowledge  which  supports 
both  the  military  and  industrial  efforts  of  the  country 
was  not  generally  understood  until  the  present  war  re- 
vealed it  in  so  many  directions  as  to  bring  it  home  to 
all." 

The  directions  to  the  Advisory  Council  were  "to 
frame  a  programme  for  their  own  guidance  in  recom- 
mending proposals  for  research  and  for  the  guidance 
of  the  Committee  of  Council  in  allocating  such  State 
funds  as  may  be  available." 

As  a  commencement,  the  Advisory  Council  under- 
took to  give  aid  to  the  existing  researches,  to  hold 
conferences  with  professional  and  other  societies, 
to  form  standing  committees  to  deal  with  special 
branches  of  research  work  and  to  complete  a  register  of 
researches  to  aid  research  in  educational  institutions, 
this,  however,  being  limited  by  the  provision  that 
such  aid  should  not  result  in  the  funds  of  the  educa- 
tional institution  ordinarily  available  for  education 
or  research  being  relieved. 

In  December,  1916  the  work  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Privy  Council  was  established  as  a  separate  depart- 
ment entitled  "The  Department  of  Scientific  and  In- 

1  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific 
and  Industrial  Research,  1915-1916,  p.  9.  (These  reports  will  be  re- 
ferred to  hereafter  as  "British  Report,  1915-1916,"  etc.) 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  39 

dustrial  Research,"  and  an  Imperial  Trust  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research 
was  created  to  hold  the  funds  allocated  to  research, 
the  expenditure  of  which  was  to  be  controlled  by  the 
new  department.  The  principal  part  of  these  funds 
consisted  of  the  sum  of  one  million  sterling  voted  by 
Parliament. 

In  the  report  of  the  Advisory  Council  for  19161  it  is 
pointed  out  that  there  is  room  in  the  industrial  world 
for  three  methods  of  financing  research.  The  report 
continues : 

"  There  is  research  which  the  individual  firm  finds  it  remunerative 
to  undertake  at  its  own  expense.  Secondly,  there  is  research 
which  is  financed  on  a  co-operative  basis,  and  lastly,  there  is 
research  which  must  be  financed  by  the  State,  if  it  is  to  be  done  at 
all. 

"Is  any  distinction  in  kind  to  be  drawn  between  these  three 
classes  of  research"  which  would  justify  this  difference  of  treatment? 
If  there  is,  and  if  it  can  be  clearly  stated,  it  should  greatl}'  assist 
the  sound  administration  of  public  funds  and  be  a  useful  guide  to 
our  own  policy.  We  suggest  that  the  distinction  is  to  be  sought 
in  the  probable  nature  of  the  results  to  be  obtained  from  an  investi- 
gation. If  the  research  is  one  which  a  single  firm  can  finance  and 
which,  if  successful,  will  yield  results  that  a  single  firm  can  exploit 
to  the  full,  there  is  no  case  in  normal  circumstances  either  for 
co-operation  with  other  firms  or  for  assistance  from  the  State. 
The  more  powerful  the  firm  and  the  greater  the  variety  of  its 
activities,  the  more  far-reaching  will  be  the  nature  of  the  research 
it  will  be  justified  in  undertaking.  But  as  we  pointed  out  in  our 
last  report,  British  manufacturing  firms  are  not  as  a  rule  at  the 
same  time  both  large  and  complex.  In  the  great  cotton  industry, 
where  some  of  the  firms  have  capital  funds  to  be  reckoned  in 
millions,  the  organization  is  'horizontal,'  not  Vertical,'  and  manu- 
facturing success  has  been  obtained  by  specialization  in  a  narrow 
range  of  processes.  Far-reaching  scientific  investigations  which 

1  British  Report,  1916-1917,  p.  16. 


40  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

are  likely  to  affect  several  sections  of  the  industry  are  accordingly 
more  suitable  for  co-operative  than  for  single-handed  attack. 
There  will  still  be  ample  room  for  private  research  by  individual 
firms  on  the  lines  of  their  own  special  work.  Indeed,  they  may  be 
expected  to  gather  many  suggestions  for  this  from  the  results  of 
the  co-operative  investigations. 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  German  chemical  industry  with  its 
powerful  firms  engaged  in  handling  the  primary  raw  materials 
through  all  their  intermediate  stages  up  to  the  manifold  but  closely 
related  final  products,  explosives,  dyes,  essences,  drugs,  antiseptics, 
would  not  be  suited  for  co-operative  research,  though  it  may  be 
prepared  to  go  far  in  the  direction  of  financial  fusion — a  mere 
continuation  of  the  previous  line  of  development. 

"If,  as  in  this  country,  conditions  are  in  many  respects  specially 
favorable  to  co-operation  in  the  conduct  of  research,  the  State  is, 
we  think,  justified  in  encouraging  development  along  these  lines 
by  means  of  monetary  and  other  assistance.  We  find  the  justifi- 
cation for  our  proposals  for  Research  Associations  in  these  consider- 
ations. But  when  the  firms  have  done  all  that  it  will  pay  them 
to  do  in  the  way  of  both  private  and  co-operative  research,  there 
still  remain  lines  of  investigation  which  will  either  be  sufficiently 
fundamental  to  affect  a  range  of  interests  wider  than  any  single 
trade,  however  large,  or  else  they  will  clearly  have  a  direct  bearing 
on  the  health,  the  well-being,  or  the  safety  of  the  whole  population. 
The  two  types  are  not  mutually  exclusive,  but  research  of  either 
kind  falls,  we  think,  into  the  third  class  and  must  be  undertaken 
by  the  State  itself." 

The  research  associations  referred  to  in  this  extract 
were  designed  by  the  Advisory  Council  to  make  use 
of  the  funds  at  their  disposal  for  the  promotion  of 
research.  These  research  associations  are  formed  as 
follows: 

The  manufacturers  in  each  industry  combine  to 
form  a  limited  liability  company  operating  without 
making  profits.  This  research  association  undertakes 
to  initiate  researches,  collect  information,  and  gener- 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  41 

ally  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  manufacturers  supporting 
the  association. 

When  the  Advisory  Council  commenced  its  work 
it  found  a  strong  movement  in  England  toward  trade 
associations,  and  after  the  Whitley  report  of  1917  the 
standing  joint  industrial  councils  recommended  in 
that  report  were  invited  to  co-operate  in  the  formation 
of  the  research  associations,  thus  giving  a  representa- 
tion to  labor  in  their  organization.  Many  scientific 
industries,  however,  were  found  to  be  completely 
without  any  trade  association,  and  in  these  cases  it 
was  necessary  to  form  the  research  associations  as 
separate  bodies. 

It  was  not  held  essential  that  research  associations 
should  organize  laboratories  of  their  own,  since  existing 
laboratories  attached  to  universities  might  be  utilized. 
Each  association,  however,  has  a  research  director  as 
executive  officer.  The  research  associations  are 
entitled  to  receive  from  the  Department  for  the  first 
five  years,  funds  equivalent  to  the  amount  sub- 
scribed by  the  manufacturers,  the  limit,  however, 
being  £5,000  per  annum. 

The  advantages  accruing  to  each  firm  subscribing 
to  a  research  association  are  set  forth  by  the  Depart- 
ment as  follows:1 

1.  "It  will  receive  a  regular  service  of  summarized  technical 
information  which  will  keep  it  abreast  of  the  technical  develop- 
ments in  the  industry  at  home  and  abroad.     To  do  as  much  for 
itself  any  firm  would  have  to  employ  more  than  one  man  on  its 
staff  reading  and  translating  the  technical  press. 

2.  "It  will  be  able  to  obtain  a  translated  copy  of  any  foreign 
article  in  which  it  may  be  specially  interested  and  to  which  its 
attention  will  have  been  drawn  by  the  periodical  bulletin. 

1  British  Report,  1916-1917,  p.  50. 


42  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

3.  "It  will  have  the  right  to  put  technical  questions  and  to  have 
them  answered  as  fully  as  possible  within  the  scope  of  the  research 
organization  and  its  allied  associations. 

4.  "It  will  have  the  right  to  recommend  specific  subjects  for 
research,  and  if  the  Committee  or  Board  of  the  research  organiza- 
tion of  that  industry  consider  the  recommendation  of  sufficient 
general  interest  and  importance,  the  research  will  be  carried  out 
without  further  cost  to  the  firm  making  the  recommendation,  and 
the  results  will  be  available  to  all  the  firms  in  the  organization. 

5.  "It  will  have  the  right  to  the  use  of  any  patents  or  secret 
processes  resulting  from  all  researches  undertaken  either  without 
payment  for  licenses,  or  at  any  rate  on  only  nominal  payment  as 
compared  with  firms  outside  the  organization. 

6.  "It  will  have  the  right  to  ask  for  a  specific  piece  of  research 
to  be  undertaken  for  its  sole  benefit  at  cost  price,  and,  if  the 
governing  Committee  or  Board  approve,  the  research  will  be 
undertaken. 

Sir  Frank  Heath1  says: 

"The  Department  acts  as  a  clearing-house  of  information  for 
the  association,  and  gives  all  the  assistance  and  advice  in  its 
power,  whether  the  association  is  in  receipt  of  a  grant  or  not. 
The  association  has  full  control  of  its  own  income,  whether  from 
Government  or  from  its  members,  and  all  the  results  of  research 
are  the  sole  property  of  the  association  held  in  trust  for  its  mem- 
bers. The  Department  asks  to  be  kept  informed,  acts  as  the  go- 
between  when  an  association  seeks  to  sell  its  results  to  another 
industry  or  association,  and  reserves  the  power  to  prohibit  the 
communication  of  results  to  a  foreign  body  or  person.  But  this 
is  the  limit  of  Government  interference.  The  Advisory  Council 
laid  stress  upon  the  representation  of  science  as  well  as  capital  and 
management  on  the  board  of  directors,  and  they  think  it  desirable 
that  there  should  be  some  representation,  if  possible,  of  skilled 
labor.  They  also  lay  great  stress  upon  the  appointment  in  each 
case  of  a  responsible  technical  officer  as  director  of  research,  in 
order  to  ensure  the  unity  of  direction,  which  is  as  necessary  in 
research  as  in  the  battlefield." 

1  Jour.  Roy.  Soc.  Arts,  1919,  p.  210. 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  43 

The  plan  thus  adopted  by  the  Department  was  well 
thought  out  and  the  manufacturers  have  displayed 
great  interest  in  the  scheme,  but  it  will  undoubtedly 
require  great  tact  on  the  part  of  the  executive  officers 
of  the  Department  to  make  the  arrangement  work 
smoothly.  While  the  Department  protests  that  it  is 
prepared  to  make  the  research  associations  entirely 
self-governing,  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  articles 
of  association,  the  model  draft  of  which  is  provided  by 
the  Department,  are  such  as  to  leave  a  considerable 
amount  of  control  in  its  hands.  The  draft  of  these 
articles  published  by  the  Department  is  indeed  a 
document  which  does  not  tend  to  inspire  confidence 
in  any  one  who  has  had  experience  in  industrial 
research.  It  has  evidently  been  drawn  by  an  expert  in 
company  law  who  knew  nothing  of  the  difficulties  in 
direction  which  arise  in  all  forms  of  industrial  research, 
but,  above  all,  in  research  undertaken  in  the  interests 
of  a  combination  of  competing  and  probably  suspicious 
and  jealous  manufacturers. 

The  great  problems  in  such  an  association  will  be  the 
choice  of  the  researches  to  be  undertaken  and  the  dis- 
posal of  the  results  obtained  from  the  work.  The  only 
provision  hi  the  articles  dealing  with  the  choice  of 
work  is  one  enabling  a  member  of  the  association  to 
appeal  to  the  Department  to  prevent  work  being  under- 
taken which  may  prejudice  his  personal  interests, 
and  hi  the  specific  directions  for  the  powers  of  the 
Council  no  mention  of  research  work  is  made  at  all, 
the  difficulties  which  are  certain  to  arise  in  such 
research  associations  being  therefore  entirely  ignored 
in  the  Articles  of  Association  and  left  to  the  decision 
of  the  Council  assisted  by  the  executive  officers  of  the 


44  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

Department.  It  would  seem  that  the  most  urgent 
requirement  for  the  success  of  this  scheme  for  research 
associations  would  be  the  drafting  of  a  set  of  regula- 
tions dealing  with  their  research  work.  This  will 
probably  be  done  before  long,  and  it  may  be  hoped 
that  the  regulations  will  be  drawn  up  by  a  committee 
composed  of  the  heads  of  industrial  undertakings  and 
of  scientific  men  experienced  in  actual  industrial 
research  rather  than  by  either  the  legal  or  scientific 
experts  of  the  Department.  There  are  certainly  more 
men  available  in  Great  Britain  with  years  of  experience 
in  actual  industrial  research  than  would  be  suggested 
by  reading  the  names  of  the  members  of  the  Advisory 
Council  or  even  of  most  of  its  committees. 

The  list  of  research  associations  to  which  licenses 
were  issued  up  to  July  31,  1919  is  as  follows: 
British  Photographic  Research  Association 
British  Scientific  Instrument  Research  Association 
British  Research  Association  for  the  Woolen  and 
Worsted  Industries 

British  Portland  Cement  Research  Association 
British  Boot,   Shoe  and   Allied   Trades    Research 
Association 

British  Motor  and  Allied  Manufacturers7  Research 
Association 

British  Empire  Sugar  Research  Association 
British  Cotton  Industry  Research  Association 
British  Iron  Manufacturers '  Research  Association. 
The  list  of  those  approved  at  the  same  date  is: 

Research  Association  of  British  Rubber  and  Tire 
Manufacturers 

British  Music  Industries  Research  Association 
Linen  Industry  Research  Association 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  45 

Glass  Research  Association 

British  Chocolate,  Cocoa,  Sugar  Confectionery  and 
Jam  Manufacturers'  Research  Association. 

Scottish  Shale  Oil  Trade  Research  Association 
British  Non-ferrous  Metals  Research  Association 
British  Refractories  Research  Association. 
The  Advisory  Council  recognized  from  the  begin- 
ning that  there  were  important  fields  for  industrial 
research  which  could  not  be  covered  by  means  of 
research  associations,  and  where  the  conditions  made 
it  unlikely  that  any  particular  industry  would  under- 
take necessary  research  the  Department  was  prepared 
to  take  action  itself  with  the  help  and  assistance  of  the 
industries  concerned.1  In  the  report  for  1917  it  is 
stated  that  the  attention  of  the  Department  had  been 
devoted  in  growing  measure  to  the  organization  of 
those  fields  of  research  which  are  unsuitable  for  re- 
search associations,  and  that  the  work  on  fuel  research 
had  progressed  so  far  that  it  was  determined  to  erect 
a  special  research  station  at  a  cost  of  about  $800,000 
on  a  site  loaned  by  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas 
Company.  This  station  was  completed  at  the  end  of 
1919.2  This  fuel  research  station  corresponds  to  a 
considerable  degree  to  the  convergent  laboratories  for 
specific  branches  of  research  discussed  later  hi  this 
chapter,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  eventually  the 
activities  of  the  Department  of  Scientific  and  Indus- 
trial Research  may  be  concentrated  upon  such  conver- 
gent laboratories,  and  that  the  co-operative  laboratories 
which  were  at  first  proposed  may  be  limited  to  those 
industries  for  which  they  are  particularly  suitable. 

1  British  Report,  1916-1917,  p.  15. 

2  British  Report,  1918-1919,  p.  20. 


46  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

It  does  not  seem  probable  that  co-operative  labora- 
tories will  be  successful  in  all  industries.  The  success 
of  private  industrial  laboratories  has  led  to  a  belief 
that  co-operative  laboratories  would  be  equally  suc- 
cessful, but  this  belief  ignores  certain  essential  aspects 
of  the  matter. 

When  an  industrial  research  laboratory  is  supported 
by  a  single  manufacturer  it  will  be  part  of  the  com- 
petitive system  of  the  industry,  so  that  the  manu- 
facturer will  be  stimulated  by  competition  against 
rival  manufacturers  in  the  same  industry  to  use  his 
laboratory  to  the  utmost  extent.  Moreover,  to  a 
single  manufacturer  a  laboratory  has  a  considerable 
advertising  value,  and  its  possession  is  commonly  used 
to  instil  confidence  among  his  customers  in  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  factory.  It  also  serves  as  a  school  for 
the  training  of  skilled  technical  employees  who  can 
be  transferred  to  other  branches  of  the  business  when 
necessary.  Even  when  employees  are  not  so  trans- 
ferred the  presence  of  a  number  of  men  acquainted 
with  the  industry,  but  with  specialized  scientific  train- 
ing, in  daily  close  association  with  the  other  employees 
of  the  company  cannot  fail  to  be  of  value.  Finally, 
a  private  laboratory  can  be  entrusted  with  trade 
secrets  of  great  value  and  can  often  take  a  valuable 
part  in  the  executive  direction  of  the  business, 
especially  where  new  products  or  methods  are  being 
considered.1 

None  of  these  advantages  exist  in  the  case  of  a  co- 
operative laboratory.  It  cannot  by  its  very  nature 
aid  one  manufacturer  in  competition  with  another,  it 
has  an  advertising  value  only  for  the  industry  as  a 

1See  Chapter  IV,  p.  61, 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  47 

whole  and  not  for  the  individual  firm,  it  may  train 
men  for  the  industry  but  this  is  as  likely  to  assist  his 
competitors  as  any  individual  manufacturer.  Further- 
more, great  difficulties  attend  the  carrying  out  of 
work  which  involves  trade  secrets  in  any  co-operative 
laboratory,  and  few  manufacturers  would  care  to  dis- 
cuss their  plans  for  the  future  with  the  officials  of 
such  a  laboratory. 

The  conditions,  therefore,  under  which  we  may 
expect  co-operative  laboratories  to  be  successful  are 
those  in  which  all  the  members  of  the  industry  have  a 
common  interest  in  the  results. 

The  work  of  an  industrial  research  laboratory  may 
be  divided  into  work  on  fundamental  theory,  on  raw 
materials,  on  the  design  of  products,  on  processes  of 
manufacture,  and  on  applications  of  and  uses  for 
the  products.  Ignoring  for  the  moment  the  question 
of  fundamental  research,  work  on  raw  materials  and 
on  the  applications  and  uses  of  products  cannot  fail 
to  be  of  interest  to  all  manufacturers  in  an  industry 
apart  from  the  jealousies  which  are  inevitable  among 
competitive  firms  and  which  any  scheme  for  co-opera- 
tive research  must  overcome  if  it  is  to  succeed. 

Work  on  processes  can  be  carried  out  co-operatively 
only  if  the  processes  of  an  industry  are  matters  of 
common  knowledge  among  all  those  engaged  in  it. 
In  some  industries  this  is  the  case,  and  competition  is 
confined  to  superior  efficiency  in  manufacturing,  or- 
ganization or  selling,  but  in  many  industries  this  is 
not  so,  and  many  of  the  processes  are  held  as  trade 
secrets.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  a  co-operative  laboratory  could  effectively 
study  those  processes. 


48  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

As  regards  the  design  of  products,  there  seems  little 
opportunity  for  co-operative  research;  for  where  there 
is  a  possibility  for  varied  design  this  is  usually  the 
most  competitive  aspect  of  the  industry,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  the  results  of  work  on  new  prod- 
ucts in  a  co-operative  laboratory  could  be  allotted 
among  the  subscribers. 

At  first  sight,  it  may  seem  that  work  on  fundamental 
theory  would  naturally  be  common  ground  and  that 
any  co-operative  laboratory  might  study  this  to  the 
satisfaction  of  its  supporters.  It  is  somewhat  doubt- 
ful, however,  whether  any  but  the  largest  industries 
will  eventually  be  successful  in  carrying  out  research 
in  fundamental  theory. 

Consider  a  small  industry  in  which  the  charge  for 
the  research  laboratory  amounts  to  perhaps  2  per 
cent,  of  the  profits,  and  in  which  most  of  the  firms  are 
small  and  make  small  profits.  Now,  suppose  a  re- 
search association  is  formed  with  the  intention  of 
studying  the  fundamental  theory  and  that  the  more 
immediately  remunerative  branches  of  research  can- 
not be  undertaken  because  of  the  nature  of  the  indus- 
try. As  is  frequently  emphasized  in  this  book,  funda- 
mental research  is  a  difficult  and  slow  business,  from 
which  little  can  be  expected  for  many  years,  and  the 
only  product  from  such  a  laboratory  at  the  beginning 
would  therefore  be  a  number  of  papers  published  in 
the  scientific  press  and  written  in  language  which 
would  quite  possibly  be  incomprehensible  to  many  of 
the  business  men  who  had  each  year  to  pay  their 
assessment  for  the  support  of  the  work.  At  first,  no 
doubt,  they  would  feel  a  certain  amount  of  pride  in  the 
publications  from  their  own  laboratory,  but  this  feeling 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  49 

is  much  less  than  would  be  the  case  if  the  work  had 
been  done  in  a  private  laboratory  rather  than  in  a  co- 
operative one,  and  one  cannot  help  feeling  that  before 
long  there  would  be  a  strong  demand  from  the  indus- 
try that  the  laboratory  should  do  something  "  practi- 
cal/ '  and  that  work  on  theory  should  be  left  to  some- 
body else. 

Co-operative  laboratories,  however,  are  likely  to  be 
of  the  greatest  value  in  some  industries,  especially 
in  those  on  which  little  scientific  work  has  been  done 
and  where  no  strong  feeling  of  exclusiveness  and 
secrecy  prevails.  It  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  we 
should  consider  co-operative  and  private  laboratories 
as  mutually  exclusive  alternations.  A  manufacturer's 
membership  of  a  Research  Association  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  existence  of  his  private  laboratory, 
for  while  the  Association  laboratory  carried  on  work 
of  common  interest  to  the  whole  body  of  members 
the  laboratory  of  an  individual  company  might 
use  that  work  as  a  basis  for  particular  investigations 
of  direct  value  to  itself.  In  any  case  co-operative 
laboratories  must  tend  to  weaken  and  eventually 
destroy  the  " trade  secret"  bogey,  which  does  so 
much  to  retard  progress  and  prevent  increased 
production. 

One  method  of  enabling  small  firms  to  carry  on  their 
scientific  work  when  they  cannot  afford  to  support  an 
adequate  private  laboratory  is  undoubtedly  to  be 
found  in  a  laboratory  of  the  type  of  the  Mellon  In- 
stitute, which  provides  the  necessary  conditions  for 
secrecy  and  individual  control  while  supplying  the 
organization  and  directive  ability  which  is  beyond  the 
resources  of  many  small  firms.  Another  solution  may 


50  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

be  found  in  convergent  laboratories  supported  by  users 
of  materials  rather  than  by  producers. 

Common  interests  are  much  more  frequent  among 
users  of  materials  than  among  producers,  since  all 
users  of  a  given  material  or  process  have  an  interest 
in  its  improvement.  They  have  an  interest  in  the 
lowering  of  its  cost,  and  they  have  a  common  inter- 
est in  its  replacement  by  a  superior  material  or 
method. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  that  for  many  purposes  labora- 
tories might  be  supported  by  associations  of  users  as 
well  as  by  the  co-operation  of  producers.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  the  number  of  users  of  the  materials  or 
method  who  would  be  interested  in  research  on  a  given 
subject  may  be  very  large  indeed. 

Consider  a  laboratory  devoted  to  research  on  non- 
ferrous  alloys  for  instance.  Few  manufacturers  who 
are  using  alloys  would  care  to  support  an  adequately 
equipped  laboratory  even  on  a  small  scale.  For  re- 
search on  alloys  a  laboratory  requires  a  very  extensive 
plant,  involving  metallographic  microscopes,  strength- 
testing  machines  of  different  kinds,  furnaces,  etc.,  and 
also  a  specialized  staff  of  experts — difficult  to  get  and 
expensive  to  maintain.  Moreover,  in  the  case  of 
most  users  of  alloys  it  is  only  occasionally  that  prob- 
lems present  themselves,  though  when  those  problems 
occur  it  is  frequently  very  vital  to  get  a  rapid  solution 
of  them. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  research  on  alloys 
would  be  a  most  suitable  subject  for  an  association 
laboratory,  and  that  firms  of  all  kinds  who  use  alloys 
might  subscribe  sums  for  its  support,  according  to  the 
interest  they  have  in  the  scheme.  Even  an  industry 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  51 

having  a  well  equipped  laboratory  for  its  own  work 
would  probably  prefer  to  contribute  to  an  alloys  re- 
search laboratory  rather  than  install  a  special  depart- 
ment for  alloy  research  in  its  own  laboratory.     For  a 
moderate  contribution  it  could  have  the  privilege  of 
referring  problems  to  the  general  laboratory  and  of 
obtaining  their  reports,  bulletins,  etc.,  on  new  alloys. 
When  a  problem  of  special  interest  to  itself  appeared 
it  could  maintain  in  the  alloys  laboratory  a  man  sup- 
ported by  an  industrial  fellowship  to  work  on  its  spe- 
cial problem,  paying  only  the  cost  of  the  research  while 
the  man  would  have  available  the  special  equipment 
and  directing  knowledge  of  the  whole  specialized  labo- 
ratory.    Such  a  method  of  conducting  alloys  research 
would  certainly  be  far  more  economical  than  a  large 
number  of  small  laboratories,  each  attempting  to  cover 
part  of  the  field,  and  would  probably  be  much  more 
likely  to  succeed  than  an  attempt  to  get  the  con- 
flicting interests  of  the  miners  and  smelters  of  the 
various  metals  reconciled  sufficiently  to  support  a 
co-operative  laboratory  for  research  on  alloys.     The 
establishment  of  such  a  laboratory  is  now  being  con- 
sidered by  the  Research  Extension  Division  of  the 
National  Research  Council. 

Another  possible  example  of  the  same  thing  is  a 
laboratory  for  research  on  metal  cutting.  Only  the 
largest  industries  could  afford  to  do  any  adequate  re- 
search on  the  subject,  but  very  few  of  them  would 
refuse  to  contribute  toward  the  support  of  a  central 
laboratory  which  would  study  the  subject  as  a  whole 
and  to  which  they  could  refer  their  own  problems  for 
solution. 

In  addition  to  co-operative  laboratories  formed  by 


52  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

associations  of  manufacturers  a  type  of  laboratory 
which  is  particularly  valuable  to  small  firms  is  that 
in  which  the  researches  are  carried  on  by  means  of 
industrial  fellowships,  the  laboratory  organization 
being  maintained  by  some  institution  such  as  a  uni- 
versity or  government  department. 

The  prototype  of  these  industrial  fellowship  labora- 
tories is  the  Mellon  Institute  at  the  University  of 
Pittsburgh,  which  was  founded  to  carry  out  the  scheme 
of  industrial  fellowships  originally  introduced  by 
Professor  Robert  Kennedy  Duncan  at  the  University 
of  Kansas.  Professor  Duncan  founded  this  scheme 
partly  in  order  to  train  students  in  industrial  research 
and  partly  because  he  felt  that  such  research  work  as 
was  attempted  in  small  factories  was  often  undertaken 
under  very  bad  conditions.1  He  felt  that  often  the 
manufacturer  has  neither  the  knowledge  nor  the  ex- 
perience requisite  to  establish  successful  research,  that 
he  is  not  willing  to  allow  sufficient  space  or  equipment, 
and  that  a  man  working  alone  in  a  small  industry  is 
hampered  by  lack  of  the  stimulation  which  arises  from 
association  with  other  scientific  workers,  and  also  by 
want  of  proper  skilled  direction  of  the  work. 

In  such  a  laboratory  as  the  Mellon  Institute  the 
manufacturer  can  arrange  to  have  the  work  done  by  a 
man  employed  by  himself,  thus  insuring  that  the  manu- 
facturer alone  obtains  the  result  of  the  work,  and  yet 
the  research  man  will  have  the  advantages  of  the  In- 
stitute, contact  with  other  scientific  workers,  the  avail- 
ability of  sources  of  information  such  as  a  reference 
library,  and  direction  of  the  work  by  experienced  ad- 

1  R.  K.  DUNCAN,  Industrial  Fellowships,  Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind., 
v.  xxviii,  p.  684. 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  53 

ministrative  officers  of  the  laboratory.  According  to 
the  system  in  operation  at  the  Mellon  Institute  a 
manufacturer  having  a  problem  requiring  solution 
may  become  the  donor  of  a  fellowship,  which  pro- 
vides the  salary  of  the  fellow  selected,  the  Institute 
supplying  free  laboratory  space  and  the  use  of  all  ordi- 
nary chemicals  and  equipment. 

In  the  first  five  years  of  the  Institute  105  one-year 
fellowships  were  supported  by  47  concerns,  the  total 
amount  contributed  being  $360,000.  During  this 
period  the  Institute  itself  expended  $175,000  in  over- 
head charges,  and  the  building  and  equipment  repre- 
sent an  investment  of  over  $300,000.  About  40 
fellowships  are  generally  in  operation  with  about 
70  fellows  at  work.  The  first  fellowship  founded  was 
on  baking.  In  1917  the  most  important  fellowships 
dealt  with  bread,  yeast,  synthetic  organic  products, 
glue,  copper,  gas,  coke,  oil  and  illumination. 

Such  laboratories  as  the  Mellon  Institute  are  cer- 
tain to  be  of  great  value  for  training  men,  and  it  has 
been  found  that  in  many  cases  manufacturers  who 
have  endowed  an  industrial  fellowship  eventually 
establish  research  laboratories  of  their  own,  employing 
in  them  the  men  who  have  carried  on  the  work  as 
fellows.  These  institutes  will  thus  serve  as  nurseries 
for  private  industrial  research  laboratories  in  addition 
to  the  work  which  they  do  directly  and  to  the  training 
which  they  give.  The  weakness  of  such  industrial 
fellowship  laboratories  is  that  the  conditions  of  their 
operation  produce  a  tendency  to  demand  immediate 
results,  and  the  work  undertaken  tends  to  be  of  an 
extremely  " practical"  nature. 

It  would  seem  to  be  difficult  for  such  an  institute  to 


54  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

take  up  really  fundamental  work  in  applied  science, 
and  consequently  the  great  danger  of  all  work  in  such 
an  institution  is  that  it  will  tend  to  be  too  superficial. 
This  is  recognized  to  some  extent  by  the  Mellon 
Institute  itself,  which  has  founded  a  laboratory  for 
research  in  pure  chemistry,  intended  to  keep  the 
fellows  in  closer  touch  with  theoretical  science.  Also, 
it  is  probable  that  the  work  of  the  Institute  would 
be  improved  if  it  were  extended  to  cover  a  greater 
amount  of  physical  research  instead  of  being  almost 
exclusively  chemical  in  its  organization.  Physics  is 
so  often  of  importance  in  industrial  research  that  its 
absence  from  a  research  institute  must  be  a  source  of 
weakness. 

A  number  of  universities  have  drafted  schemes  for 
institutes  similar  to  the  Mellon  Institute,  but  the 
most  interesting  proposal  along  these  lines  is  that  of 
the  Research  Council  of  Canada  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Canadian  National  Research  Institute,  which 
is  to  be  a  combination  of  a  national  physical  laboratory 
for  physical  determinations  and  the  maintenance  of 
standards  and  of  a  fellowship  research  institute  in 
which  the  fellowships  are  to  be  maintained  by  trade 
guilds  for  research  formed  by  the  industries. 

A  similar  national  research  institute  forming  a  com- 
bination of  a  physical  standards  laboratory  and  a 
fellowship  research  institute  is  in  course  of  organiza- 
tion in  Japan,  a  fund  of  8,000,000  Yen  being  proposed 
for  its  endowment.  A  national  research  institute  on 
somewhat  similar  lines  has  been  proposed  hi  France. 
These  latter  institutes  are  subject  to  the  difficulties 
which  have  already  been  indicated  as  attaching  to 
co-operative  industrial  laboratories  and  especially  to 


CO-OPERATIVE  LABORATORIES  55 

those  to  which  governmental  assistance,  and  con- 
sequently governmental  control,  is  extended.  They 
must  be  of  advantage  to  industry,  they  may  be  of  the 
greatest  value  to  science,  but  their  value  will  depend 
very  largely  upon  the  ability  of  their  directors  and 
especially  of  the  director  of  the  laboratory  itself. 
Only  if  the  direction  is  of  the  wisest,  and  if  it  is  un- 
hampered by  red  tape  and  officialism  to  an  extent 
which  can  scarcely  be  expected,  will  the  proposed 
institutions  fulfill  the  hopes  which  are  expressed  by 
those  responsible  for  their  organization. 

Such  a  consulting  laboratory  as  that  of  Dr.  A.  D. 
Little  in  Boston  is  very  valuable  for  the  promotion 
of  research  in  the  case  of  industries  who  do  not  care 
themselves  to  undertake  the  direction  of  the  work. 
A  firm  can  refer  a  problem  to  such  a  consulting  labora- 
tory, which  will  study  the  problem,  undertake  the 
necessary  investigation,  erect  a  model  plant  and  finally 
supervise  the  installation  of  the  process  in  the  factory, 
charging  a  fee  for  its  services  and  undertaking  the 
responsibility  for  the  whole  operation.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement provides  the  maximum  security  for  secrecy 
and,  if  the  laboratory  is  efficiently  organized  and 
managed,  makes  the  development  of  new  processes 
possible  to  firms  who  could  scarcely  undertake  them 
in  any  other  way. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  a  research  laboratory  on  a 
very  large  scale  would  be  a  successful  commercial 
venture,  especially  if  the  capital  were  sufficient  to 
enable  the  founders  of  the  laboratory  to  patent  inven- 
tions and  to  exploit  those  patents  for  their  own  bene- 
fit. The  difficulty,  of  course,  is  that  the  return  from 
such  a  laboratory  is  very  small  for  a  number  of  years, 


56  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

and  that  the  successful  establishment  of  such  a 
laboratory  would  require  a  large  amount  of  capital, 
a  considerable  amount  of  faith  in  the  value  of  scien- 
tific research,  a  good  deal  of  experience  in  the 
direction  of  research,  and,  finally,  capable  business 
judgment.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  expected  that 
such  a  combination  will  be  found. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    POSITION    OF    THE    RESEARCH 

LABORATORY  IN  AN  INDUSTRIAL 

ORGANIZATION 

The  success  of  an  industrial  research  laboratory 
depends  to  a  considerable  extent  upon  its  position  hi 
the  organization  and  upon  its  relation  to  the  other 
departments  of  the  company  with  which  it  is  associated. 

If  industrial  enterprises  had  been  organized  afresh 
with  the  research  laboratory  as  a  definite  part  of  the 
organization  it  is  probable  that  by  this  time  some 
general  opinion  would  have  been  formed  as  to  the 
position  which  it  should  occupy,  but  in  fact  nearly  all 
industrial  research  laboratories  have  been  added  to 
already  formed  organizations  and  their  relations  to 
the  other  departments  of  the  organization  are  usually 
closely  associated  with  their  origin. 

Laboratories  have  been  established  in  many  differ- 
ent ways: 

If  an  executive  of  the  manufacturing  company  is 
a  technical  scientific  expert  he  may  have  felt  the  need 
of  a  laboratory  and  become  its  director,  and  in  this 
case  the  laboratory  will  necessarily  be  very  closely 
associated  with  the  work  of  the  executive  who  initiated 
it. 

A  laboratory  may  also  have  been  established  under  a 
separate  director,  not  himself  associated  with  the 
executive  officers  of  the  company,  but  as  a  reference 
department  for  the  executives,  and  in  this  case  also 

57 


58  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

it  will  be  very  closely  associated  with  the  officers  of 
the  company  and  will  tend  to  be  concerned  more  with 
questions  of  policy  and  the  introduction  of  new 
products  than  with  any  other  of  the  problems  of 
the  company. 

In  a  large  company  a  research  laboratory  may 
have  been  established  as  a  separate  department, 
having  its  own  organization  and  being  available  as  a 
reference  department  for  all  sections  of  the  company, 
in  which  case  its  activities  will  cover  a  very  wide  field, 
but  at  the  same  time  it  will  not  have  as  direct  an 
influence  upon  the  policy  of  the  company  as  will 
happen  if  it  is  closely  associated  with  one  or  more 
of  the  executive  officers. 

The  earliest  research  laboratories  grew  out  of  the 
works  testing  and  control  laboratories  and  were 
therefore  responsible  directly  to  the  works  manager. 
More  recently,  laboratories  have  generally  been 
established  as  independent  departments  of  the 
company  responsible  to  the  general  manager  only. 

In  order  to  understand  the  proper  relation  of  the 
research  laboratory  to  the  organization  the  general 
nature  of  any  organization  must  be  considered  briefly. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  functions  of  an  organization 
can  be  divided  into  two  distinct  classes,  which,  to 
borrow  a  military  term,  may  be  termed  "line"  and 
"staff"  functions.  Staff  functions  are  concerned  with 
planning,  line  functions  with  operation. 

In  an  army  the  line  organization  is  paralleled 
throughout  by  staff  organization.  The  Commanding 
Officer,  who  is  the  head  of  the  line,  has  at  his  General 
Headquarters  the  Headquarters  Staff,  each  Army 
Commander  has  his  own  Army  Staff,  each  Divisional 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         59 

Commander  a  divisional  staff,  each  brigade  a  brigade 
staff,  and  the  staff  functions  of  each  battalion  are 
carried  out  by  officers  to  whom  they  are  assigned. 
In  operation,  the  line  officers  are  supreme;  it  is  their 
duty  to  be  responsible  for  the  execution  of  the  work; 
in  planning,  the  work  is  done  by  the  staff,  and  once 
approved  the  plan  is  put  into  operation  by  the  line. 

Now,  in  industry  there  has  not  often  been  any  clear 
separation  of  these  two  functions.  The  founders  of 
industrial  enterprises  have  usually  taken  staff  functions 
on  themselves,  creating  a  line  organization  to  carry 
them  out.  And  even  when  businesses  have  grown 
beyond  the  point  at  which  any  one  man  can  be  respon- 
sible for  all  the  planning  necessary,  a  definite  staff 
organization  has  very  rarely  been  created;  men 
have  simply  been  employed  with  definite  functions 
of  a  staff  nature,  but  without  any  interlinking 
organization. 

The  oldest  definite  staff  function  in  industry  is  that 
of  accounting.  In  its  nature  the  accounting  depart- 
ment is  a  purely  staff  department,  touching  the  sales 
department  in  its  bookkeeping  accounting,  and  the 
production  department  in  its  cost  accounting.  It 
often  creates  a  branching  organization  permeating 
the  whole  business,  each  works  having  its  own  account- 
ing department  and  even  each  department  having  one 
or  two  clerks  who  attend  to  its  accounts  and  who  are 
responsible  to  the  accounting  department  of  the  works. 

In  an  industry  which  is  not  primarily  concerned 
with  engineering,  a  chemical  industry  for  instance, 
the  engineering  and  maintenance  department  occupies 
a  similar  position.  It  is  a  staff  department  responsible 
for  the  supply  of  power,  for  the  construction  and 


60  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

maintenance  of  buildings,  and  for  the  production, 
supply  and  maintenance  of  the  machinery  with  which 
the  producing  departments  carry  on  their  work.  The 
efficiency  department  is  another  staff  department,  its 
function  being  essentially  planning.  In  an  engineer- 
ing works  the  efficiency  department  should  be  a  part 
of  the  engineering  department  as  a  whole,  concerned 
with  the  design  of  product  and  the  planning  of  opera- 
tion. The  employment  and  welfare  department  is 
another  staff  organization  which  may  undertake  also 
the  educational  work,  which  is  now  becoming  so 
important  in  all  industries. 

The  production  and  distribution  of  technical  knowl- 
edge, which  is  the  function  of  a  research  laboratory 
in  an  industry,  is  a  staff  function,  and  the  research 
work  must  therefore  be  organized  along  lines  parallel 
to  those  of  the  accounting  department.  Like  the 
accounting  department  the  research  laboratory  will 
often  develop  two  sections,  one  dealing  with  manu- 
facturing questions,  and  having  its  closest  relations 
with  the  production  department,  and  the  other  con- 
cerned with  the  use  of  the  products,  taking  the  form 
of  service  to  the  customer  and  having  its  relations 
with  the  advertising  and  selling  departments.  It  is 
not  unusual  for  new  products  developed  by  the  aid 
of  the  research  laboratory  to  require  a  certain  amount 
of  assistance  from  the  scientific  staff  for  their  intro- 
duction to  the  public. 

A  staff  department  can  be  attached  to  the  line 
organization  at  any  point;  a  manufacturing  depart- 
ment, for  instance,  may  have  clerks  attached  to  it  for 
accounting,  mechanics  to  keep  machines  in  order, 
engineers  to  plan  the  sequence  of  operations,  and  a 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY        61 

laboratory  to  control  chemical  processes.  The  point 
to  which  the  staff  organization  shall  be  carried  will 
therefore  depend  upon  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be 
done.  There  may  be  industries  in  which  research 
work  is  required  for  only  a  single  department,  and  hi 
this  case  the  research  workers  should  be  responsible 
to  the  head  of  that  department;  there  are  others  hi 
which  the  interest  in  the  research  is  confined  to  the 
works,  and  in  such  cases  the  laboratory  should  be 
responsible  to  the  works  manager ;  but  in  most  techni- 
cal industries  research  work  will  have  a  great  bearing 
not  only  on  the  methods  of  production,  but  even  on 
the  general  policy  of  the  industry,  and  in  such  cases 
it  is  necessary  that  those  who  direct  research  should 
be  hi  touch  with,  and  responsible  to,  the  executives 
who  control  policy. 

It  is  often  felt  that,  while  the  question  of  the 
products  to  be  manufactured  and  their  method  of 
manufacture  should  be  under  technical  and  scientific 
control,  the  policy  of  the  business  as  a  whole  is  a  matter 
which  should  be  under  the  direction  only  of  men 
specially  trained  in  finance  and  in  that  variety  of 
branches  of  knowledge  which  is  loosely  classified 
under  the  heading  of ' '  business. ' '  But  in  the  technical 
industries  the  question  of  policy  is  so  ultimately  bound 
up  with  the  scientific  aspects  of  the  subject  that  its 
right  direction  demands  immediate  supervision  by 
directors  acquainted  with  the  technical  side  of  the 
business  as  well  as  with  the  financial  side.  Consider, 
for  instance,  the  board  of  directors  of  a  dye  manu- 
facturing company.  Suppose  that  the  board  wished 
to  introduce  a  new  dye  belonging  to  a  different  group 
from  those  manufactured  at  the  time.  This  would 


62  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

involve  not  only  questions  of  the  supply  of  raw  mate- 
rial, but  the  question  of  the  by-products  obtained  in 
the  proposed  manufacture,  and  the  displacement  of 
other  dyes  and  incidentally  of  other  by-products  by 
the  new  dye  when  introduced — questions  of  such  a 
technical  nature  that  their  ramifications  could  be 
understood  only  by  a  chemist.  If  such  a  decision  is 
to  be  made  with  the  best  possible  judgment,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  chemists  must  have  a  controlling 
voice  in  the  matter,  so  that  the  board  of  directors  of 
a  dye  manufacturing  company  should  contain  a  con- 
siderable representation  from  the  scientific  staff.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  German  dye  companies  the 
directors  are  generally  expert  chemists  of  international 
reputation  for  their  purely  scientific  work. 

The  position  of  the  research  laboratory  in  an  in- 
dustrial organization  is  perhaps  best  determined  by 
the  criterion  that  the  research  department  should  be 
responsible  to  the  officer  of  the  company  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  development  of  new  products.  If  the 
introduction  of  new  products  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
works  organization,  then  the  research  department 
should  be  responsible  to  the  works  manager;  if  there 
is  a  definite  development  department,  or,  if  new  prod- 
ucts are  introduced  through  the  agency  of  some  defi- 
nite executive,  then  it  is  to  that  executive  that  the 
research  department  should  be  responsible.  The  re- 
search laboratory,  in  fact,  should  be  associated  pri- 
marily with  development. 

The  different  fields  of  activity  of  an  industrial 
research  laboratory  may  be  classified  into  the  funda- 
mental work  of  the  type  which  is  its  special  province, 
the  development  of  new  products,  and  work  on  manu- 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         63 

facturing  problems  .submitted  from  the  works.  It  is 
a  matter  of  some  doubt  as  to  how  far  manufacturing 
problems  should  be  dealt  with  by  the  same  laboratory 
as  that  which  is  responsible  for  original  work  leading 
to  new  progress;  it  may  be  urged  that  if  a  research 
staff  engaged  on  fundamental  research  is  called  upon 
frequently  to  deal  with  works  troubles,  the  more 
fundamental  work  is  subject  to  interruption  and  can- 
not be  carried  on  so  efficiently. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  is  desir- 
able to  divorce  a  research  laboratory  from  the  works 
problems,  since  the  study  of  works  problems  must 
suggest  many  important  lines  of  work  to  the  labora- 
tory staff,  and  anything  which  tends  to  separate  the 
research  staff  from  the  other  departments  of  the  com- 
pany must  be  considered  disadvantageous.  It  can- 
not be  too  strongly  urged  that  the  success  of  the 
research  laboratory  depends  upon  how  far  the  work 
done  in  it  can  be  applied,  and  since  the  application 
will  naturally  depend  to  a  very  large  extent  upon  co- 
operation with  other  departments  of  the  company, 
everything  that  tends  to  such  co-operation  is  to  be 
encouraged  and  everything  that  tends  in  the  opposite 
direction  is  to  be  discouraged.  Nothing  stimulates 
the  co-operation  of  manufacturing  departments  with 
the  laboratory  more  than  the  successful  solution  by 
the  laboratory  of  problems  submitted  to  them  by  the 
works  departments.  It  is  sometimes  difficult  for  the 
laboratory  to  solve  such  problems;  very  often  the  prac- 
tical solution  depends  upon  minute  knowledge  of  the 
working  process,  and  a  laboratory  is  expected  to 
solve  in  some  supernatural  way  problems  which  have 
baffled  men  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  aspects 


64  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

of  the  process.  But  even  if  the  laboratory  fails  to 
solve  a  given  problem  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  depart- 
ment concerned,  the  study  of  the  process  itself  is 
quite  likely  to  result  in  suggestions  which  may  be  of 
more  value  than  the  solution  of  the  problem  submitted. 

If  the  manufacturing  organization  is  of  sufficient 
size,  however,  it  may  be  desirable  to  have  a  separate 
laboratory  for  the  more  fundamental  problems,  while 
those  dealing  with  the  works  are  undertaken  by  special 
departments  of  the  laboratory  more  acquainted  with 
manufacture;  thus  a  link  is  formed  between  the  purely 
scientific  research  and  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ments.1 

A  scientific  division  to  cover  the  whole  of  the  sci- 
entific requirements  of  a  manufacturing  concern  may 
therefore  be  organized  in  three  divisions:  (1)  the  routine 
laboratory,  (2)  the  manufacturing  developments  labo- 
ratory, (3)  the  research  laboratory  proper.  Although 
this  classification  is  fairly  useful,  it  is  difficult  to  draw 
any  hard  and  fast  line  between  manufacturing  develop- 
ments and  pure  research,  and  yet  it  is  often  convenient 
to  keep  the  two  separate  if  possible. 

The  routine  laboratory  will  undertake  all  analyses 
and  testing  of  raw  materials,  semi-manufactured  and 
finished  products.  In  so  far  as  this  work  is  done 
in  connection  with  the  actual  manufacture,  the  rou- 
tine laboratory  will  act  as  an  inspection  department, 
but  in  addition  to  this  it  should  carry  out  the  analyses 
and  testing  required  by  the  departments  devoted 
to  development  and  research,  since  work  in  the  rou- 
tine laboratory  should  cost  less  than  the  same  work 

1  See  P.  G.  NUTTING,  Research  in  the  Industries,  Scientific 
Monthly,  August,  1918. 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY          65 

done  in  the  other  laboratories,  and  it  is  consequently 
advisable  to  concentrate  it  in  the  routine  section. 
The  reason  for  the  lower  cost  is  that  the  routine  labo- 
ratory carries  out  analyses  according  to  routine  or 
printed  instructions,  originality  not  being  desired. 
The  origination  of  new  methods  in  analysis  should  be 
reserved  for  a  small  separate  department  dealing  with 
research  on  analytical  methods.  The  whole  of  the 
work  of  the  routine  laboratory  can  therefore  be  carried 
out  efficiently  by  a  staff  of  laboratory  assistants  work- 
ing under  the  supervision  of  one  or  more  qualified 
chemists  who  are  in  training  for  positions  in  the  manu- 
facturing departments  or  for  the  research  laboratory. 
The  routine  laboratory  as  a  whole  will,  of  course,  be 
in  charge  of  an  experienced  analyst.  In  this  way 
there  will  be  a  greater  proportion  of  junior  staff  and 
of  laboratory  assistants  in  the  routine  laboratory  than 
in  the  other  sections  of  the  scientific  department,  so 
that  it  is  economical  to  concentrate  routine  testing 
there. 

The  staff  of  the  three  sections  will  require  different 
mental  equipment  for  the  proper  discharge  of  then- 
respective  functions.  In  the  analytical  laboratory 
the  first  consideration  is  accuracy,  patience  and  care 
in  the  carrying  out  of  routine  operations.  In  the 
development  laboratory  the  work  will  range  from  the 
simplest  and  most  obvious  alterations  to  problems  of 
extreme  difficulty  involving  scientific  knowledge  of  a 
high  order.  The  qualities  pre-eminently  essential  for 
men  of  this  order,  in  addition  to  a  thorough  profes- 
sional training  are  common  sense  and  tact.  These 
qualities  will  be  required  at  all  times  and  perhaps 
only  occasionally  will  a  man  have  an  opportunity  of 


66  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

bringing  his  more  theoretical  knowledge  to  bear  on 
his  problems.  In  the  pure  research  section,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  high  degree  of  scientific  ability  is  one  of  the 
first  essentials  for  the  proper  carrying  out  of  the  work. 

The  development  section  will  collect  ideas  from  all 
sources  and  apply  them  to  manufacture,  and  those  in- 
vestigations of  the  pure  research  section  which  result 
in  new  products  or  methods  will  pass  through  the 
development  branch  to  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ments. The  man  who  has  been  in  charge  of  an 
investigation  in  pure  research  should  be  enabled  to 
follow  his  work  through  the  development  branch  into 
the  manufacturing  departments  until  it  becomes  a 
recognized  and  established  feature  of  manufacture. 

An  interesting  organization  is  that  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company.1  In  this, 
the  research  division  is  a  section  of  the  engineering 
department,  which  is  a  staff  department,  carrying  on 
the  planning  function  and  being  responsible  for  de- 
velopment. The  research  division  is  divided  into 
sections  and  embraces  work  from  the  purely  theoretical 
side  of  the  problem  presented  to  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  principles  and  materials  in  the  factory  and 
in  the  field.  It  has  under  its  control  various  labora- 
tories, such  as  an  electrical  laboratory,  a  process 
laboratory,  a  molded-material  laboratory,  a  materials 
testing  laboratory,  a  chemical  laboratory,  a  ceramic 
laboratory  and  a  more  recently  acquired  research 
laboratory  proper  especially  set  aside  for  work  of  a 
more  theoretical  nature.  This  laboratory  has  provi- 
sion for  studies  in  organic  chemistry,  electrometal- 

1 C.  E.  Skinner,  Industrial  Research  and  Its  Relation  to  University 
and  Governmental  Research,  Jour.  A.  I.  E.  E.,  1917,  p.  765. 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY        67 

lurgy,  metallography,  illumination,  general  physics, 
electrochemistry,  insulation,  etc.,  etc.  The  theoreti- 
cal and  the  practical  research  men,  while  in  separate 
sections  of  the  same  unit,  work  in  close  harmony. 
The  result  of  a  theoretical  research,  such  as  the  pro- 
duction of  a  new  device  or  material  or  the  application 
of  a  new  principle,  can  be  tried  in  a  practical  way  hi 
another  section  of  the  division. 

"The  division  does  all  the  engineering  in  ^connection  with  the 
purchase  of  materials  and  carries  on  the  experimental  work  in 
connection  with  the  establishment  of  shop  processes.  The  men 
working  on  materials'  specifications  keep  in  the  closest  possible 
touch  with  the  method  of  production  of  these  materials,  their 
characteristics,  their  engineering  application  and  their  shop  use. 
The  process  men  work  between  the  engineering  department  and 
the  shop  in  connection  with  processes  of  every  sort,  and  prepare 
all  specifications  with  the  co-operation  of  the  shop  men  under 
whom  the  process  is  carried  out.  The  division  has  the  technical 
direction  of  the  brass  foundry,  the  scrap  recovery  plant  and  the 
copper  refinery  and  is  thus  in  daily  contact  with  the  multitude 
of  metallurgical  problems  arising  in  these  processes.  The  control 
laboratory  as  well  as  the  theoretical  laboratory  for  these  processes 
being  under  the  direction  of  the  division,  the  best  possible  co- 
operation between  the  two  is  ensured. 

"The  above  clearly  shows  that  the  division  has  been  so  organ- 
ized that  it  can  be  a  leader  in  the  development  of  new  things  and 
at  the  same  time  keep  in  closest  possible  touch  with  their  applica- 
tion and  use.  Problems  for  solution  come  to  it  from  every 
possible  direction  and  not  the  least  fertile  source  of  theoretical 
problems  is  the  grist  of  troubles  from  the  daily  routine  work  in  the 
factory .  We  believe  that  the  research  division  should  both  lead 
and  follow  the  practical  end  of  the  work." 

Where  a  single  manufacturing  corporation  controls 
a  number  of  different  factories — possibly  situated  in 
different  localities  and  dealing  with  different  products, 
the  question  arises  as  to  whether  the  research  de- 


68  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

partment  should  be  situated  at  one  of  the  principal 
factories  of  the  industry  or  should  be  located  without 
reference  to  local  distribution  of  the  factories  in  a 
center  under  conditions  most  favorable  to  the  success- 
ful development  of  the  proper  research  spirit.  It 
might  seem  that  the  research  department  should  cer- 
tainly be  situated  at  the  main  factory  of  the  corpora- 
tion in  order  that  the  relationship  between  the  re- 
search and  the  manufacturing  departments  should  be 
of  the  most  intimate  nature  possible.  One,1  however, 
who  has  had  much  experience  of  research  work  under 
these  conditions  states: 

"My  experience  has  been  that  the  result  of  such  an  arrangement, 
in  the  case  of  a  large  organization  of  many  and  varied  interests, 
is  that  research — which  after  all  provides  more  for  future  pros- 
perity than  present  profits — is  hampered  in  its  proper  development 
through  the  sacrifices  of  its  requirements  to  considerations  affect- 
ing the  manufacturing  departments.  It  is  clear  that  nothing 
should  be  allowed  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  repair  and 
development  of  running  plant.  If  the  total  building  and  engineer- 
ing resources  of  the  locality  are  required  to  keep  the  manufacture 
in  an  efficient  state,  then  the  research  department  must  remain  at 
a  standstill  or  remove  its  sphere  of  activity  to  another  locality. 
In  many  other  directions  also  is  research  hampered  by  a  too  close 
association  with  manufacture.  The  'sturm  und  drang'  of  every- 
day manufacturing  life  is  not  calculated  to  encourage  the  growth 
of  such  an  atmosphere  as  the  research  spirit  requires  for  its  ade- 
quate nourishment.  The  result  is  that  many  men,  especially 
among  those  possessing  marked  ability  for  research,  drift  off  into 
other  lines  rather  than  submit  to  being  tied  down  to  factory 
conditions.  Again,  intercourse  with  other  scientific  workers  is  a 
valuable  source  of  inspiration  and  this  can  be  had  only  to  a  limited 
extent  if  intercourse  is  limited  to  the  members  of  one  staff. 

"The   manufacturing  developments   section   of  the   research 
1  WM.  RINTOUL,    Manager  Research  Section,  Nobel's  Explosives 
Company,  Private  communication  of  February  11,  1919. 


I 
POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY        69 

center  must,  of  necessity,  be  so  placed  as  to  bring  about  the  closest 
possible  association  between  it  and  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ments wherever  situated ;  but  this  condition  is  not  so  necessary  in 
the  case  of  pure  research,  and  the  degree  of  association  with  manu- 
facture which  is  necessary  in  this  case  can  be  provided  in  other 
ways  than  through  the  close  juxtaposition  of  the  departments. 
By  a  small  sacrifice  in  this  direction  we  are  able  to  obtain  the 
much  greater  advantage  of  being  in  a  position  to  locate  the  center 
for  pure  research  at  or  near  the  center  of  scientific  thought  for 
the  country,  where  the  staff  will  have  the  benefit  of  being  able 
to  meet  and  confer  with  other  scientific  workers  in  various  allied 
and  diverse  fields.  It  would  still,  of  course,  be  the  duty  of  the 
head  of  the  department  to  see  that  a  regular  system  of  intercourse 
was  maintained  between  the  pure  research  laboratories  and  the 
various  factories  of  the  industry.  This  could  be  done  by  corre- 
spondence and  by  visits  and  conferences  at  the  various  centers. 
Some  industrial  laboratories  attempt  to  attain  this  end  by 
arranging  for  a  certain  number  of  their  staff  to  work  in  university 
laboratories  under  the  direction  of  the  professor.  This  system  may 
be  successful  in  some  of  the  smaller  laboratories,  but  severence 
from  the  industry  is  too  complete  to  yield  the  best  results. 

"The  scheme  outlined,  would,  of  course,  be  applicable  only  to 
organizations  above  a  certain  size.  In  smaller  concerns  dealing 
with  a  single  branch  of  an  industry  the  research  work  would 
probably  be  most  largely  of  the  nature  of  manufacturing  develop- 
ments and  sub-division  would  not  be  desirable." 

Whatever  the  position  of  the  laboratory  may  be, 
it  is  necessary  that  it  should  have  facilities  for  carrying 
the  development  of  new  products  through  to  the  stage 
of  production,  and,  indeed,  in  most  laboratories  it  is 
considered  necessary  not  only  to  produce  some  prod- 
ucts on  a  small  experimental  scale  but  even  to  place 
them  on  the  market,  only  transferring  production  to 
the  works  when  the  demand  is  such  that  a  full  scale 
manufacturing  organization  is  required  to  meet  it. 
This  is  particularly  useful  in  the  case  of  those  products 


70  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

which  are  quite  new  to  the  industry  and  which  require 
novel  and  difficult  manufacturing  methods,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  development  of  a  new  market. 

Where  a  research  laboratory  does  not  occupy  a 
closely  co-ordinated  position  in  the  organization  of 
an  industry,  it  may  be  very  successful  in  the  develop- 
ment of  such  radically  new  products  if  efficiently 
directed  i  by  investigators  of  great  ability.  The 
research  laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Company 
furnishes  a  number  of  notable  examples  of  this.  This 
laboratory  is  Hot  concerned  primarily  with  the  solu- 
tion of  works  problems  or  with  investigations  on  the 
manufactured  products  of  the  company;  it  has  delib- 
erately sought  entirely  new  discoveries,  new  appli- 
cations of  materials  and  new  developments  in  the 
art  of  electricity.  To  mention  only  a  few  of  its 
triumphs,  from  it  have  come  the  metallized^  carbon 
and  the  drawn  wire  tungsten  filament  lamp,  the 
nitrogen  filled  high  efficiency  lamp,  the  magnetite 
arc  lamp  and  the  Coolidge  X-ray  tube ;  and  all  of  these 
were  not  only  discovered  and  developed  in  the  labora- 
tory but  were  manufactured  there  and  sold  from  it 
until  the  business  grew  to  the  point  where  it  was 
necessary  to  build  vast  factories  to  meet  the 
demand. 

Such  a  success  of  an  individual  laboratory,  however, 
should  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  primary  busi- 
ness of  an  industrial  research  laboratory  is  to  aid  the 
other  departments  of  the  industry  and  that  for  that 
purpose  it  should  work  in  the  closest  harmony  and 
relation  with  them  and  should  not  be  tempted  to 
develop  an  isolated  line  of  work,  which  might  yield 
it  a  greater  direct  triumph  but  yet  leave  the  business 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         71  i 

as  a  whole  the  poorer  for  lack  of  its  assistance  and 
co-operation. 

Few  laboratories  can  be  founded  on  such  an  indepen- 
dent footing  as  that  of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
as  possibly  few  investigators  could  justify  such  an 
independence  as  have  Dr.  Whitney  and  his  colleagues, 
and,  on  the  whole,  it  is  probably  best  that  the  research 
department  should  be  closely  associated  with  the  manu- 
facturing departments  and  should  transfer  its  products 
to  them  as  soon  as  they  have  passed  the  experimental 
stage. 

In  order  to  obtain  good  co-operation  between  the 
laboratory  and  the  manufacturing  departments  it  is 
often  necessary  for  the  laboratory  staff  to  display  a 
considerable  amount  of  tact,  especially  if  the  labora- 
tory has  been  added  to  an  already  pre-formed  manu- 
facturing organization.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
efficiency  department,  and  it  is  sometimes  held  that 
the  primary  qualification  for  an  efficiency  engineer  is 
tact.  This  is  unfortunate,  since  tact  is  not  directly 
correlated  with  ability,  and  research  men  must 
more  often  be  chosen  for  their  ability  than  for  other 
characteristics. 

In  promoting  co-operation  the  management  has  a 
responsible  part  to  play,  and  it  is  by  no  means  reason- 
able for  the  management  to  evade  its  responsibilities 
and  throw  the  burden  of  obtaining  co-operation 
entirely  upon  the  staff  department. 

The  authority  of  staff  departments  is  derived  from 
the  management,  and  it  is  a  direct  function  of  manage- 
ment to  promote  co-operation  and  harmony  between 
the  staff  departments  and  the  line  operating  depart- 
ments. A  wise  and  efficient  manager  will  act  as  a 


72  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

check  on  both  staff  and  line  men,  insisting  on  each 
carrying  out  their  own  functions  without  trespassing 
on  the  other's  territory. 

While  it  seems  to  be  generally  accepted  that  small 
industrial  undertakings  cannot  afford  to  support 
scientific  research,  it  is  very  doubtful  indeed  whether 
this  is  really  true,  and  whether  any  small  business  of  a 
technical  nature  would  not  do  better  to  undertake  its 
own  research  rather  than  share  in  a  co-operative  labora- 
tory. The  co-operative  laboratory  will  certainly  cost 
less  but  it  offers  much  less  hope  of  profitable  return 
and  advantage  over  competing  firms.  Indeed,  the 
argument  that  small  industries  cannot  afford  to 
support  scientific  research  is  exactly  as  if  it  were 
suggested  that  small  industries  cannot  afford  to  sup- 
port advertising.  The  object  of  spending  money  on 
research,  for  a  small  industry  at  any  rate,  is  not  to 
support  the  research  but  to  be  supported  by  it,  and 
it  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  smaller 
a  business  the  more  important  is  it  that  it  should 
make  use  of  scientific  research  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent. 

A  small  business  is  at  a  disadvantage  in  comparison 
with  a  large  one  in  regard  to  all  its  cost  charges.  In 
the  purchase  of  raw  materials,  in  manufacturing,  and 
in  selling,  its  cost  per  unit  of  output  tends  to  be  larger 
than  in  the  case  of  big  business,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  at  a  real  advantage  in  regard  to  flexibility  and  en- 
terprise. Any  large  business  must  necessarily  be  cau- 
tious and  conservative.  The  amount  at  stake  is  so 
large  that  the  penalty  of  error  is  heavy.  Consider, 
for  instance,  the  mere  cost  of  allotting  half  a  page  hi  a 
catalogue  of  which  three  million  copies  are  to  be  printed. 


POSITION  OF  THE  RESEARCH  LABORATORY       73 

It  is  clear  that  no  business  man  will  allow  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  article  into  a  catalogue  for  which 
such  an  edition  is  necessary  unless  he  has  reason  to 
believe  that  the  demand  will  be  sufficient  to  pay  the 
cost  involved.  That  is,  the  machinery  of  a  large  busi- 
ness is  adapted  to  the  sale  of  things  for  which  there  is  a 
large  demand,  but  it  is  difficult  for  it  to  introduce  ar- 
ticles for  which  the  demand  will  probably  be  limited 
and  doubtful.  Every  large  business  is  anxious  to 
improve  its  goods,  since  it  knows  perfectly  well  that 
the  penalty  for  failure  to  do  this  is  extinction,  but  it 
necessarily  moves  with  greater  caution  and  more 
slowly  than  a  small  business  can.  It  is  this  very  fact, 
rightly  grasped,  which  enables  the  small  business  to 
get  its  start  and  grow  in  spite  of  the  advantage  hi 
regard  to  cost  possessed  by  its  larger  competitor,  and 
the  growth  of  a  small  business  will  depend  upon  its 
supply  of  ideas  for  new  products  and  new  methods  to 
a  far  greater  extent  than  will  that  of  the  big  manu- 
facturing concern  making  staple  products.  Small 
businesses  can  therefore  make  far  more  use  of  a  re- 
search laboratory  and  get  a  much  bigger  percentage 
return  for  the  expenditure  than  any  big  company  can 
hope  to  do.  In  the  small  business,  in  fact,  a  research 
laboratory  closely  associated  with  one  of  the  high 
executive  officers  should  begin  to  return  a  profit  within 
a  short  time  whereas  in  the  case  of  a  large  company  it 
may  be  years  before  a  research  laboratory  can  be 
considered  to  be  completely  successful  financially. 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  the » establishment  of  a 
research  laboratory  hi  a  small  business  is  that  any 
research  laboratory  will  depend  for  its  value  upon 
the  quality  of  the  men  at  the  head,  or,  if  the  laboratory 


74  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

is  really  small,  of  the  man  at  the  head,  and  a  small 
business  often  feels  that  it  cannot  afford  to  pay  even 
one  good  scientific  man.  The  solution  of  this  in  a 
technical  business  might  be  that  the  research  man 
should  also  be  an  officer  of  the  company,  so  that  his 
cost  is  borne  not  only  by  the  scientific  work  but  also 
by  the  value  of  the  executive  position  which  he  holds. 
It  may  be  objected  that  an  investigator  would  not  as 
a  rule  prove  a  capable  business  man,  but  there  really 
seems  to  be  no  particular  evidence  for  this  common 
belief,  and  there  are  many  examples  of  men  trained 
in  science  who  have  proved  extremely  good  adminis- 
trators. The  classic  example  is,  of  course,  the  organi- 
zation of  the  great  Zeiss  works  under  Professor  Abbe, 
but  in  many  cases  it  will  be  found  that  the  technical 
industries  are  directed  by  technical  men  who  were 
themselves  directly  concerned  with  development  and 
manufacture  rather  than  with  financial  or  business 
direction. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  OF  INDUS- 
TRIAL RESEARCH  LABORATORIES 

Since  the  laboratory  is  a  staff  department  of  an 
industry  its  organization  must  be  such  as  to  enable 
it  to  carry  out  staff  functions  related  to  all  other 
departments  of  the  industrial  organization.  The 
chief  of  these  staff  functions  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  provision  of  information  regarding  the  tech- 
nical and  scientific  matters  in  which  the  industry  is 
interested,  and  the  supply  of  this  inf ormation  in  a  form 
suitable  for  the  education  of  the  employees,  of  the  cus- 
tomers and  of  the  general  public. 

2.  Service  in  the  form  of  the  provision  of  specifi- 
cations and  standards  for  materials,  the  making  of 
analyses  and  tests,  assistance  to  the  works  in  regard 
to  difficulties,  and  to  customers  in  relation  to  problems 
arising  from  the  use  of  the  product. 

3.  The  development  of  new  processes  or  products, 
utilization  of  by-products,  and   the  development  of 
new  departments  of  the  industry. 

These  functions  may  be  expressed  by  means  of 
annular  diagrams  such  as  those  shown  hi  Figs.  1, 2,  and 
3. 

In  Fig.  1  is  shown  the  information  diagram.  The 
information  originating  from  the  library  and  from  the 
research  staff  is  issued  in  the  form  of  abstracts,reports, 
scientific  publications  and  monographs,  and  goes  to 
the  executive,  manufacturing,  purchasing,  and  sales 

75 


76 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


INFORMATION  DIAGRAM 


PURCHASING  AND 
SALES  DEPARTMENTS 


ADVERTISING 
DEPARTMENT 


MANUFACTURING 
DEPARTMENTS 


EXECUTIVE 

3EPARTMENTS 


SCIENTIFIC  AND 
GENERAL 
PUBLIC 


FIG.  1. 


SERVICE  DIAGRAM 


OEPARTMi 


COMPLAINTS  AND 

SUGGESTIONS 


MANUFA 


FIG.  2. 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  77 

departments  for  their  information;  to  the  advertising 
and  educational  departments  to  be  utilized  by  them 
as  required;  to  the  scientific  and  the  general  press,  and 
thence  to  the  public. 

In  Fig.  2  the  service  diagram  shows  the  scientific 
departments  as  the  operating  center,  each  support- 
ing and  controlling  the  necessary  service  departments 
which  prepare  specifications  and  standards,  under- 
taking testing  and  analysis,  and  investigate  works 
troubles,  complaints  of  customers,  and  suggestions 
from  the  sales  department,  the  results  being  commu- 
nicated to  the  departments  interested. 

The  service  work  which  the  laboratory  carries  on  for 
other  departments  of  the  industry  is  best  done  by  men 
working  especially  for  each  department  or  group 
of  departments.  The  real  problem  hi  taking  care  of 
the  difficulties  of  a  manufacturing  department  is  to 
provide  good  assistants  as  regards  knowledge,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  have  them  continually  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  department.  The  ideal  thing  would  be 
to  have  a  first-class  chemist  or  physicist  attached 
directly  to  the  department,  since  only  a  man  working 
continually  in  the  department  can  become  acquainted 
with  its  problems.  This  is,  of  course,  impracticable 
since  it  would  cost  too  much,  but  an  entirely  satis- 
factory solution  can  be  obtained  by  having  a  man  hi 
the  laboratory  who  deals  with  the  problems  of  a  par- 
ticular department  and  spends  a  great  deal  of  his  time 
in  that  department,  doing  his  experimental  work, 
however,  in  the  main  research  laboratory  under  the 
supervision  of  one  of  the  senior  executives  of  the 
research  laboratory.  As  soon  as  he  meets  a  difficulty 
which  requires  greater  knowledge  than  he  possesses 


78 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


or  knowledge  in  a  different  branch  of  science,  the 
problem  can  be  taken  up  by  his  chief  and  transferred 
to  another  section  of  the  laboratory,  where  it  can 
be  studied  and  a  solution  found,  the  solution  then 
being  given  to  him  to  be  taken  back  to  the  manufac- 
turing department  and  put  into  operation.  In  this 
way  a  junior  chemist,  if  possessed  of  the  necessary 


DEVELOPMENT  DIAGRAM 


FIG.  3. 

temperament  for  dealing  with  manufacturing  problems 
and  for  co-operating  with  other  people,  can  make 
use  of  the  whole  of  the  facilities  of  the  research  labo- 
ratory and  apply  them  to  the  problems  of  a  particular 
department,  the  application  of  this  principle  making  it 
possible  to  utilize  the  scientific  facilities  of  the  labo- 
ratory very  economically,  and  to  cover  effectively  the 
whole  of  the  work  of  the  manufacturing  divisions. 

The  organization  of  the  development  work  is  shown 
in  Fig.  3.     Here  the  work  is  shown  to  be  founded 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  79 

upon  pure  research  done  in  the  scientific  department, 
which  undertakes  the  necessary  practical  research  on 
new  products  or  processes  as  long  as  they  are  on  the 
laboratory  scale,  and  then  transfers  the  work  to  special 
development  departments  which  form  an  intermediate 
stage  between  the  laboratory  and  the  manufacturing 
department. 

These  development  departments  are  really  small 
scale  manufacturing  departments  which  may  be 
operated  either  by  the  works  departments  or  by  the 
laboratory,  but  which  are  controlled,  as  regards  the 
work  done  in  them  and  the  methods  used,  by  the 
laboratory  itself,  being  run  as  experimental  depart- 
ments in  order  to  develop  a  new  process  or  product  to 
the  stage  where  it  is  ready  for  manufacture  on  a  large 
scale. 

The  commonest  mistake  is  to  transfer  laboratory 
work  to  the  manufacturing  department  too  soon; 
experimenting  in  a  manufacturing  department  is  a 
costly  matter,  and  the  experimental  work  should  be 
done  on  a  small  scale  under  control  of  the  laboratory 
before  any  attempt  is  made  to  transfer  it  to  a  full 
scale  manufacturing  department. 

The  development  department  itself  should  have  an 
organization  separate  from  the  research  laboratory, 
though  under  the  same  general  direction.  It  will 
study  all  proposals  for  new  methods,  processes,  or 
products  which  may  be  submitted  to  the  company, 
and  will  report  on  them,  these  reports  bearing  at  their 
conclusion  definite  recommendations  on  which  the 
executives  of  the  company  can  act. 

In  addition  to  this  study  of  material  presented  from 
outside,  the  development  department  should  take  up 


80  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

one  branch  after  another  of  the  industrial  field,  and 
study  those  branches  exhaustively,  preparing  a  general 
report  in  which  is  outlined  the  policy  to  be  followed 
with  regard  to  those  fields,  the  developments  to  be 
aimed  at,  and  the  work  to  be  done  in  research  and  in 
production  to  meet  the  needs  which  each  field  is  seen 
to  present. 

The  development  department  should  be  of  sufficient 
size  to  be  able  to  survey  the  whole  of  the  industry 
every  few  years,  thus  keeping  fully  in  touch  with  all 
the  developments  which  are  taking  place,  and  directing 
the  flow  of  invention  and  experimental  work  into 
those  channels  which  seem  most  likely  to  be  profitable. 
In  many  ways  the  control  of  development  is  more 
difficult  than  the  control  of  scientific  research  itself, 
since  large  commercial  interests  are  generally  in- 
volved, and  an  impartial  survey  of  the  whole  field  is 
necessary  if  a  correct  decision  is  to  be  reached. 

The  laboratory  organization  will,  therefore,  consist 
of  a  section  of  administration,  which  will  be  responsible 
for  the  direction  of  the  work,  the  control  of  accounts 
and  the  issuing  of  reports;  a  section  of  information, 
which  will  operate  the  library,  prepare  abstracts  of 
the  literature,  keep  in  touch  with  the  patent  depart- 
ment and  constitute  its  technical  wing,  and  prepare 
reports  and  publications  of  all  kinds;  and  the  scientific 
section,  which  will  carry  on  the  operation  of  the  labora- 
tory work. 

Whether  a  laboratory  is  of  the  convergent  or  of  the 
divergent  type  there  are  two  forms  of  organization 
possible  for  the  whole  of  its  scientific  work.  For 
brevity  these  may  be  spoken  of  as  the  ' 'departmental" 
system  and  the  "cell"  system. 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  81 

In  the  departmental  system  the  organization  is  that 
familiar  to  most  businesses.  The  work  of  the  labora- 
tory is  classified  into  several  departments;  physics, 
chemistry,  engineering,  and  so  on,  according  to  the 
number  necessary  to  cover  the  field,  and  each  of 
these  departments  has  a  man  of  suitable  scientific 
attainments  in  charge.  In  a  large  department  each 
of  these  men  will  in  turn  have  assistants  responsible 
for  sections  of  the  department,  all  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments finally  being  responsible  to  the  director  of  the 
laboratory. 

Under  the  alternative  or  cell  system  the  laboratory 
consists  of  a  number  of  investigators  of  approximately 
equal  standing  in  the  laboratory,  each  of  them  responsi- 
ble only  to  the  director,  and  each  of  them  engaged 
upon  some  specific  research.  Each  such  investigator, 
of  course,  may  be  provided  with  assistants  as  may  be 
necessary. 

Each  of  these  systems  has  advantages  and  disadvan- 
'  tages.  Under  the  departmental  system  the  advantages 
are  strict  organization,  good  co-operation  throughout 
the  departments,  a  plentiful  supply  of  assistants  for 
the  abler  men  who  form  the  heads  of  departments  or 
sections  of  the  departments.  The  chief  disadvantage 
is  that  the  system  tends  to  stifle  initiative  in  the 
younger  men.  While  it  is  true  that  research  men 
require  to  serve  a  considerable  apprenticeship  to  older 
investigators,  there  comes  a  time  when  every  man 
wishes  to  try  to  develop  his  own  line  of  research  on 
his  own  initiative  and  to  carry  out  work  by 
himself,  and  while  it  is  quite  possible  to  provide 
for  such  men  in  a  departmental  organization, 
there  is  some  danger  that  men  who  are  really 


82  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

capable  of  original  work  may  not  get  the  opportunity 
to  carry  it  out. 

The  cell  system,  on  the  other  hand,  provides  a  good 
arrangement  for  men  of  original  initiative  and  of  the 
self-reliant  type ;  it  enables  a  man  to  continue  a  single 
line  of  work  by  himself  for  a  long  time  and  patiently 
to  bring  to  a  conclusion  work  which  in  a  departmental 
organization  might  have  been  abandoned  because  of 
its  apparently  unremunerative  character.  On  the 
other  hand  the  cell  system  tends  to  exaggerate  the 
vices  of  such  men.  They  tend  to  become  secretive, 
to  refuse  co-operation,  to  be  even  resentful  if  their 
work  is  inquired  into;  while  if  a  man  who  has  developed 
a  line  of  work  for  himself  in  a  cell  leaves  the  laboratory 
it  may  be  very  difficult  for  anybody  else  to  take  up 
the  work,  in  which  case  a  great  deal  of  time  and  money 
is  lost,  and  work  which  should  have  been  carried  for- 
ward is  left  unfinished.  Another  objection  to  the  cell 
system  is  that  men  who  are  good  organizers  and  who 
are  of  the  type  that  can  carry  on  work  requiring  many 
assistants  do  not  easily  find  a  place  in  it. 

In  practice,  a  balance  between  these  two  systems  of 
organization  is  essential  and  will  develop  in  any  labora- 
tory. It  is  not  possible  to  work  a  rigid  departmental 
system,  and  on  the  other  hand  no  cell  system  in  its 
most  definite  form  could  be  effective.  The  form  of 
organization  which  is  the  easiest  in  administration  is 
undoubtedly  some  modification  of  the  departmental 
system,  since  only  by  this  means  can  young  students 
fresh  from  college  acquire  adequate  training  and  at 
the  same  time  keep  in  touch  with  different  branches  of 
their  subject  and  avoid  the  danger  of  immature 
specialization.  A  laboratory  should  therefore  be 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  83 

v 

organized  in  departments  with  an  intra-departmental 
section  in  which  a  young  man  who  develops  the  ability 
to  carry  out  his  own  work  may  be  able  to  take  up 
work  on  his  own  initiative,  stiU  retaining  his  position 
in  the  department  and  carrying  on  his  work  under 
the  general  supervision  of  the  chief  of  his  department. 
There  will  always  be  a  tendency  in  the  departmental 
organization  for  men  to  desire  to  split  away  from  the 
department  to  which  they  are  attached  and  become 
semi-independent  in  the  laboratory,  and  this  tendency 
must  be  resisted  in  the  organization  and  by  the  director 
of  the  laboratory.  At  the  same  tune,  it  is  important 
that  the  control  should  not  be  so  rigid  that  men  feel 
that  they  are  prevented  from  exercising  their  own 
initiative. 

While  the  divergent  type  of  laboratory  may  be 
necessary  for  those  industries  in  which  the  work  is  of 
such  various  types  that  a  laboratory  able  to  turn  out 
any  kind  of  work  is  necessary,  yet  the  organization 
of  a  new  laboratory  for  a  specific  industry  generally 
results  in  one  of  the  convergent  type.  In  order  to 
illustrate  the  structure  of  such  a  convergentlaborato  ry 
a  description  may  be  made  of  the  organization  of  the 
research  laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company. 

The  purpose  of  this  laboratory  is  the  investigation 
lof  the  scientific  foundations  of  photography  and  its 
applications,  everything  relating  to  photography  in 
all  its  branches  and  applications  being  of  interest. 
The  branches  of  science  which  are  of  chief  importance 
in  photographic  problems  are  those  of  optics  in  physics, 
and  of  the  colloidal,  physical  and  organic  branches  of 
chemistry.  The  relations  of  these  sciences  to  photo- 
graphic problems  are  shown  in  graphic  form  in  Fig.  4. 


84 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


Optics  deals  on  its  geometrical  side  with  the  materials 
used  in  photography — cameras,  lenses,  shutters,  etc.— 
and  on  its  physical  side  with  such  materials  as  color 


filters  and  illuminants,  but  especially  with  the  study 
of  the  relation  of  the  photographic  image  to  the  light 
by  means  of  which  it  was  produced — a  study  which 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  85 

is  known  by  the  name  of  "sensitometry."  The 
manufacture  of  the  sensitive  material  itself,  which 
in  the  case  of  modern  photographic  plates,  films  and 
paper  is  called  the  " emulsion,"  is  a  province  of  colloid 
and  physical  chemistry,  colloid  chemistry  dealing 
with  the  precipitation  and  nature  of  the  sensitive 
silver  salts  formed  in  their  gelatine  layer,  while 
physical  chemistry  informs  us  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
reactions  which  go  on,  both  in  the  formation  of  the 
sensitive  substance  and  hi  its  subsequent  develop- 
ment after  exposure.  The  organic  chemist  prepares 
the  reducing  agents  required  for  development  and  the 
dyes  by  which  color  sensitiveness  is  given  to  the 
photographic  materials,  and  by  which  the  art  of  color 
photography  can  be  carried  on.  While  the  physicist, 
therefore,  deals  with  sensitometry  and  the  theory  of 
exposure,  the  chemist  must  deal  at  the  same  time 
with  the  theory  of  development  and  with  the  condi- 
tions relating  to  the  development  of  photographic 
images. 

A  laboratory,  therefore,  for  the  study  of  photogra- 
phic problems  must  be  arranged  with  a  number  of 
sections  such  as  are  shown  in  Fig.  5.  In  physics  we 
require  departments  dealing  with  sensitometry  and 
with  illumination,  reflection  and  absorption,  colorim- 
etry,  spectroscopy  and  geometrical  optics.  We  need 
a  department  of  colloid  chemistry,  one  of  physical 
chemistry,  one  of  organic  chemistry,  one  of  photo- 
chemistry to  deal  with  the  action  of  light  upon  the 
plate,  and  finally  a  number  of  photographic  depart- 
ments, dealing  with  photographic  chemistry,  with 
portraiture,  color  photography,  photo-engraving,  mo- 
tion pictures  and  X-ray  work.  All  these  departments 


86 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


converge  first  upon  the  theory,  and  then  upon  the 
practice  of  photography. 

Each  research  specialist  in  the  laboratory  is  given 
work  corresponding  to  a  limited  field  of  science,  so 
that  while  his  special  attention  is  devoted  to  that  one 
department,  his  field  of  activity  just  overlaps  that 


TRAITURE 

PHOTOGRAPHIC  CHEMISTRY 
PHOTO 'CHEMISTRY 


FIG.  5. 

of  the  departments  on  each  side  of  him,  while  his 
general  knowledge  of  the  subject  should,  of  course, 
cover  a  much  wider  range.  It  is  important  that  each 
man  should  have  his  own  special  field  of  work  and 
that  overlapping  should  not  be  complete  since  this 
will  inevitably  produce  friction  destructive  of  co- 
operation and  harmony.  The  way  in  which  such  a 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  87 

subdivision  is  arranged  may  perhaps  be  best  illus- 
trated by  Fig.  6,  which  shows  the  range  of  the  specific 
investigations  of  those  who  in  the  research  laboratory 
of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company  cover  the  range  of 
research  work  between  sensitometry  and  pure  physical 
chemistry.  There  are  five  workers  in  this  range;  the 
first,  A,  being  a  pure  physicist;  B,  a  physicist  with  a 
considerable  experience  of  chemistry;  C,  a  physical 
chemist  who  has  specialized  hi  photography;  Dt  a 
physical  chemist  who  has  specialized  in  photographic 


EFFECT  OF  THE  SILVER 

DEVELOPMENT  0*  """^  '""'""MAUD*  .««mVE 
PHYSICS  »W«ITY  0"*«U»™  GRA|N  OFWLVMHAUOCS 

CHEMISTRY 
FIG.  6. 

theory;  and  E,  a  pure  physical  chemist.  The  interest 
of  each  of  these  workers  overlaps  the  field  of  the  other 
workers  but,  nevertheless,  each  of  them  has  his  own 
specific  problem,  his  own  equipment  and  apparatus. 
Thus,  A  and  B  use  sensitometric  apparatus  chiefly; 
C,  both  sensitometric  apparatus  and  the  thermostatic 
and  electrical  equipment  of  physical  chemistry;  D, 
microscopic  apparatus  and  chemical  apparatus  dealing 
with  the  precipitation  of  silver  salts;  and  E,  the  analyt- 
ical and  solubility  apparatus  of  chemistry.  The 
whole  of  this  range  is  also  connected  with  colloid 
chemistry  and  especially  the  overlap  of  the  different 
sections  involves  colloid  problems,  so  that  we  can 


88  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

consider  colloid  chemistry  as  dealing  with  the  inter- 
relations of  the  different  sections  of  photographic 
chemistry  and  can  represent  its  province  in  the  dia- 
gram by  shading  the  overlapping  areas.  The  colloid 
division  of  the  laboratory  will  therefore  be  interested 
in  the  work  of  each  of  the  specific  investigators  and 
will  be  of  assistance  to  all  of  them. 

These  charts,  prepared  for  a  photographic  labora- 
tory, are  equally  applicable  in  form  to  almost  any 
other  convergent  laboratory,  so  that  if  we  have  to 
work  out  the  organization  of  a  research  laboratory 
which  is  to  study  any  inter-related  group  of  problems, 
we  can  do  it  by  the  construction  of  charts  similar  to 
these.  Thus,  considering  Fig.  4,  we  place  first  at  the 
bottom  of  the  chart  the  general  subject  considered 
and  its  various  branches,  and  then  above  these  the 
scientific  problems  involved,  separating  out  on  op- 
posite sides  of  the  chart  those  problems  which  should 
involve  different  branches  of  pure  science.  Thus,  we 
can  place  on  one  side  biological  problems,  then  phys- 
ical problems,  then  chemical  problems  and  so  on, 
constructing  a  chart  similar  to  Fig.  4  from  the  bottom 
up  until  at  the  top  we  have  the  various  branches  of 
pure  science  involved,  subdividing  these  branches  until 
each  subdivision  represents  the  work  capable  of  being 
handled  by  one  man  in  the  laboratory. 

It  will  now  be  possible  to  draw  Fig.  5,  showing  on 
the  circumference  the  different  sections  of  the  labora- 
tory for  which  accommodation,  apparatus  and  men 
must  be  provided  and  showing  the  relation  of  these 
sections  to  the  problems  as  a  whole.  And  having 
worked  this  out  it  is  easy  to  find  the  amount  of  space 
and  the  number  of  men  which  will  be  required  or 


THE  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  89 

which  the  funds  available  will  allow  for  each  part  of 
the  work. 

In  the  arrangement  of  a  research  laboratory  it  is 
very  desirable  to  avoid  overorganization  and  red  tape. 
The  men  working  in  such  laboratories  are  of  a  very 
independent  and  critical  type  of  mind  and  are  ex- 
tremely impatient  of  bureaucratic  methods,  and  it  is 
undoubtedly  a  great  mistake  to  allow  research  work 
to  be  directed  by  administrators  who  have  no  real 
sympathy  with  the  results  of  the  work  and  who  at- 
tempt continually  to  standardize  and  regulate  things 
which  in  themselves  are  incapable  of  standardization 
and  regulation.  It  is  an  advantage  for  the  scientific 
worker  to  have  the  administrative  burdens  of  the 
laboratory  arranged  for  him  so  that  when  he  wants 
apparatus  or  assistance,  or  when  he  wants  materials 
prepared,  or  lantern  slides  made,  he  can  get  them  by 
simple  request  without  spending  his  own  time  on 
them.  Order  and  regularity  are  also  an  advantage. 
Regular  hours  of  work  are  really  better  than  irregular 
hours  in  the  long  run,  and  there  is  no  disadvantage 
hi  having  a  proper  system  of  conducting  conferences, 
discussion,  etc.  But  too  much  administration  is  as 
bad  as  too  little,  and,  especially  in  institutions  con- 
trolled by  government  departments,  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  danger  that  the  office,  which  should  be  the 
servant  of  the  investigator,  may  become  the  master. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY 

The  staff  of  a  research  laboratory  will  consist  of  a 
director,  who  in  small  laboratories  will  himself  be 
actively  engaged  in  scientific  work,  but  in  larger  labo- 
ratories will  necessarily  be  occupied  to  a  considerable 
extent  with  administrative  duties,  a  senior  staff  of  men 
of  first-rate  training  and  of  considerable  experience 
in  research,  a  junior  staff  of  younger  men  obtaining 
experience  in  methods  of  research  under  the  guidance  of 
the  senior  men,  and  a  certain  number  of  assistants 
without  special  scientific  training  who  carry  out  routine 
work  under  the  direction  of  the  scientific  staff. 

Since  a  great  many  of  the  more  important  scientific 
discoveries  have  been  made  by  men  of  transcendent 
genius,  there  is  a  general  belief  that  research  work  must 
depend  upon  such  men  for  its  execution  and  that  the 
prosecution  of  research  depends  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  men  of  exceptional  caliber.  While  it  is  true 
that  men  differ  very  greatly  in  ability  and  that  their 
value  for  research  work  varies,  the  fact  still  remains 
that  much  scientific  research  depends  upon  the  ac- 
cumulation of  facts  and  measurements,  an  accumula- 
tion requiring  many  years  of  patient  labor  by  numbers 
of  investigators,  but  not  demanding  any  special  ori- 
ginality on  the  part  of  the  individual  worker.  Pro- 
viding that  an  investigator  is  well  trained,  is  interested 
in  his  work,  and  has  a  reasonable  proportion  of  new 

90 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         91 

ideas,  he  can  make  valuable  contributions  to  scienti- 
fic research  even  though  he  be  entirely  untouched  by 
anything  that  might  be  considered  as  the  fire  of  ge- 
nius. And  in  considering  the  planning  of  research 
laboratories  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  we  can 
obtain  men  who  are  geniuses;  all  we  have  a  right  to 
assume  is  that  we  can  obtain  at  a  fair  rate  of  recom- 
pense, well  trained,  average  men  having  a  taste  for 
research  and  a  certain  ability  for  investigation.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  matter  of  doubt  how  many  of  the  men  com- 
monly considered  to  be  of  great  genius  by  virtue  of 
some  important  discovery  they  have  made  really  pos- 
sessed any  distinguishing  ability  compared  with  their 
fellows  who  did  not  have  the  fortune  to  make  a  simi- 
larly important  discovery.  The  imaginative  mind 
will  often  seize  an  apparently  trivial  point  which  a 
less  able  mind  might  have  passed  by,  and  there  are 
many  men  who  have  added  to  our  knowledge  whose 
minds  appeared  to  those  around  them  to  be  so  fired 
that  they  illuminated  everything  that  they  touched, 
but  such  men  are  very  rare  and  the  bulk  of  the  work 
of  the  world  must  be  done  by  the  average  man. 

Men  who  are  only  average  when  dealt  with  singly 
may  become  extremely  able  by  the  mental  contact 
which  follows  association  with  other  men  working  on 
similar  problems.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  points 
in  the  history  of  science  is  the  way  in  which  an  in- 
vestigator of  great  ability  has  surrounded  himself  with 
men  who  afterward  showed  great  distinction  in  their 
scientific  careers.  To  some  extent  this  is  undoubtedly 
due  to  the  fact  that  students  of  ability  are  attracted 
by  the  renown  of  an  original  investigator,  but  it  is 
also  probable  that  the  minds  of  men  are  quickened 


92  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

by  contact,  so  that  a  group  of  men  who  taken  indi- 
vidually would  be  only  average  can  be  raised  to  a  high 
level  of  intellectual  activity  by  association,  and  es- 
pecially by  the  precept  and  example  of  one  first-rate 
man.  Every  laboratory  that  is  to  succeed  must,  in 
fact,  develop  a  corporate  spirit  and  corporate  object, 
and  when  such  a  development  has  taken  place  results 
of  the  first  magnitude  may  be  looked  for.  The  split- 
ting up  of  such  a  body  of  men  is  no  less  a  loss  than 
their  association  was  a  gain,  and  for  the  production  of 
the  best  research  it  is  desirable  to  facilitate  the  con- 
tinued collaboration  of  men  under  favorable  circum- 
stances for  their  co-operation  in  scientific  work. 

The  senior  staff  of  the  laboratory  should  consist  of 
men  of  the  highest  scientific  attainments  available 
and  at  the  same  time  of  considerable  experience  in 
research;  in  fact,  they  should  be  men  of  such  attain- 
ments as  are  compatible  with  the  rank  of  professor  or 
assistant  professor  in  the  university.  As  far  as  pos- 
sible these  men  should  regard  their  positions  in  a 
given  research  laboratory  as  permanent,  and  every 
effort  should  be  made  to  induce  them  to  look  at  those 
positions  in  that  light,  since  fluctuations  in  the  senior 
staff  are  necessarily  very  detrimental  to  the  work  of 
the  laboratory,  and  result  in  the  loss  of  much  time 
and  energy  by  the  abandonment  or  delay  of  partly 
finished  investigations.  As  far  as  possible,  gaps  aris- 
ing in  the  senior  staff  should  be  filled  from  the  junior 
staff,  but,  of  course,  it  will  sometimes  be  necessary  to 
obtain  men  from  other  laboratories. 

The  continuity  of  service  which  should  be  hoped 
for  from  the  senior  staff  cannot  be  expected  from  the 
junior  men,  since  they  will  desire,  as  they  grow  older 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY    93 

and  acquire  experience,  to  undertake  research  on  their 
own  initiative  as  well  as  to  obtain  positions  of  greater 
responsibility  and  better  remuneration,  and  will  there- 
fore go  elsewhere;  for  no  laboratory  can  develop  con- 
tinuously with  sufficient  rapidity  to  absorb  the  growth 
of  its  younger  men.  This  will  involve  the  leaving  of 
the  younger  men  to  fill  higher  positions  in  other 
laboratories.  Every  research  laboratory,  therefore, 
must  expect  to  assist  in  the  training  of  the  general 
body  of  research  workers  by  taking  men  just  graduated 
from  the  universities,  and  after  they  have  had  some 
years  of  experience  in  research  work  seeing  them  go 
again  to  occupy  positions  for  which  there  cannot  be 
an  equivalent  opening  in  the  laboratory  where  they 
have  acquired,  their  training. 

The  junior  men  may  be  taken  direct  from  the  uni- 
versity either  immediately  after  graduation,  or  after 
one  or  two  years'  experience  as  instructors  or  as 
post-graduate  research  students.  It  is  doubtful  if 
specific  training  for  the  work  which  they  are  to  do  is 
advisable.  The  most  important  requirement  is  that  a 
man  should  really  know  the  fundamentals  of  the  sub- 
ject which  he  is  studying.  If  he  is  a  physicist,  he 
should  really  understand  his  physics;  if  a  chemist,  he 
should  be  well  grounded  in  general  chemistry.  A 
man  who  has  taken  a  scientific  degree  at  a  university 
may  also  be  reasonably  expected  to  have  a  good  ac- 
quaintance with  the  literature  of  the  subject,  to  be 
accustomed  to  reading  up  on  specific  points,  and  to 
know  the  journals  in  which  search  should  be  made  for 
publications  on  different  subjects.  All  scientific  re- 
search men  must  be  able  to  read  French  and  German 
hi  addition  to  English;  a  knowledge  of  other  Ian- 


94  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

guages  will  certainly  be  an  advantage,  but  in  the 
case  of  all  men  who  propose  to  make  scientific  research 
their  profession  a  knowledge  of  the  three  principal 
European  languages  to  the  extent  of  reading  scientific 
literature  is  essen  tial. 

There  is  a  considerable  advantage  in  choosing  men 
for  a  laboratory  so  that  various  types  of  mind  are 
represented.  Some  men  are  distinguished  for  their 
original  ideas,  others  for  their  balance  in  judgment. 
Some  men  have  a  great  interest  in  the  study  of  the 
literature  and  are  willing  to  act  as  bibliographers  for 
then-  less  diligent  comrades.  A  " walking  dictionary" 
is  very  valuable  in  any  branch  of  research  work. 
Other  men  display  ability  in  the  design  of  apparatus 
and  even  in  its  actual  construction,  though,  on  the 
whole,  it  is  a  mistake  to  allow  scientifically  trained 
research  men  to  do  work  which  can  be  done  more 
quickly  and  to  greater  advantage  by  mechanics. 

All  investigators  will  find  it  an  advantage  to  have 
the  ability  to  express  themselves  clearly  in  speech 
and  in  writing.  It  is  invariably  necessary  for  an 
investigator  to  write  up  his  own  work,  and  a  man  who 
has  no  facility  in  this  direction  may  consume  a  great 
deal  of  time  in  doing  so.  The  college  training  which 
a  young  research  man  may  be  expected  to  have  in 
this  direction  amounts  to  a  training  in  English  com- 
position and  as  much  precis  writing  as  he  can  get. 

The  remaining  qualifications  of  a  satisfactory 
research  worker  are  personal  and  cannot  easily  be 
taught.  In  the  selection  of  men  due  regard  must  be 
paid  to  their  moral  qualities.  In  order  to  be  suc- 
cessful in  association  with  others  a  man  must  be 
unselfish  and  willing  to  co-operate.  A  certain  amount 


THE  §TAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         95 

of  frankness  is  desirable,  since  a  man  who  is  extremely 
reticent  about  his  work  is  likely  to  produce  a  corre- 
sponding reticence  in  others. 

A  characteristic  on  which  Dr.  Whitney1  places 
great  weight  is  optimistic  activity,  because,  without  it, 
little  that  is  new  can  be  done  except  by  accident. 
With  active  optimism,  even  in  the  absence  of  more 
than  average  knowledge,  useful  discoveries  are  almost 
sure  to  be  made. 

Dr.  Nutting2  considers  that  the  qualities  of  mind 
necessary  for  a  research  man  may  be  classified  under 
the  heading  of  imagination  coupled  with  sound  judg- 
ment, which  when  combined  with  incentive  form  the 
qualities  essential  for  success  in  research. 

Men  who  have  been  conspicuously  successful  in 
training  and  inspiring  students,  such  as  Nernst,  J.  J. 
Thomson,  Rowland,  Liebig  and  Ramsey  have  invari- 
ably been  men  from  whom  students  acquire  by  associa- 
tion a  large  measure  of  scientific  imagination,  sound 
judgment  and  a  love  of  knowledge  which  acts  as  an 
incentive  to  research. 

The  director  of  a  research  laboratory  must  neces- 
sarily have  a  considerable  amount  of  experience  in 
organization  and  also  be  well  acquainted  with  the 
subject  to  which  the  work  of  the  laboratory  is  to  be 
applied.  In  a  university  laboratory  he  will  naturally 
be  a  professor  and  will  consequently  be  experienced 
in  teaching;  in  a  specialized  laboratory  he  should 
occupy  a  position  of  authority  hi  regard  to  the  general 
subject  on  which  the  laboratory  is  working.  In  an 

1  W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Organization  of  Industrial  Research,  J.  A.  C.  S.? 
1910,  p.  71. 

2  Private  Communication,  but  see  also  "Factors  in  Achievement," 
Scientific  Monthly,  Oct.,  1918. 


96  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

industrial  laboratory  it  is  most  important  that  he 
should  have  had  some  manufacturing  experience  in 
the  works  processes,  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
absolutely  essential  that  the  director  of  an  industrial 
research  laboratory  should  have  a  considerable 
sympathy  with  purely  scientific  work  and  a  real 
interest  in  the  advancement  of  scientific  theory.  It 
would  be  a  fatal  mistake  to  select  as  the  director  of  a 
research  laboratory  a  man  who  was  not  himself  keenly 
interested  in  scientific  work,  however  good  an  adminis- 
trator he  might  be  or  however  much  knowledge  he 
might  have  of  works  processes. 

If  a  man  of  first-class  scientific  training  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  application  of  the  research  work 
cannot  be  found,  then  a  man  of  full  scientific  training 
should  be  chosen  and  given  an  opportunity  to  become 
fully  acquainted  with  the  technical  side  of  the  subject. 
Since  in  many  cases  a  research  laboratory  will  cover 
several  branches  of  science  it  is  not  possible  to  find 
men  who  are  authorities  in  all  the  branches  covered, 
but  the  director  should  have  an  interest  in  all  the 
work  that  is  done,  and  should  be  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  different  branches  of  science  represented  to 
understand  the  work  which  is  done  and  to  have  a 
sympathy  with  the  methods  and  aims  of  the  specialist 
investigators  without  pretending  to  any  complete 
knowledge  rivaling  that  of  the  specialists.  He  must, 
moreover,  possess  natural  ability  to  analyze  problems 
and  draw  deductions.  Whenever  new  work  is  under- 
taken the  director  is  called  upon  to  analyze  the  problem 
into  its  essentials  and  direct  the  work  into  channels 
likely  to  be  profitable.  The  results  obtained  from 
completed  work  must  also  be  estimated  and  utilized 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY    97 

to  the  greatest  advantage,  this  calling  for  a  consider- 
able exercise  of  judgment  and  insight. 

However  great  a  reputation  as  an  investigator  a 
man  may  have,  he  is  not  suitable  as  the  director 
of  a  laboratory  unless  he  is  capable  of  directing  the 
work  of  others.  He  should  be  a  good  judge  of  men 
and  able  to  manage  as  well  as  inspire  them,  he  should 
be  a  leader  rather  than  a  driver.  Moreover,  he  must 
be  of  an  independent  temperament  and  willing  to 
allow  credit  to  fall  on  the  men  under  him,  being  con- 
tented himself  with  credit  for  the  efficient  operation 
of  the  laboratory  as  a  whole.  Nothing  is  more 
disastrous  for  a  laboratory  than  a  director  who  claims 
credit  which  rightfully  belongs  to  his  men. 

In  the  end,  the  character  and  efficiency  of  a  labora- 
tory will  be  influenced  chiefly  by  the  personality  of 
its  director,  and  the  development  of  laboratories  will 
depend  upon  the  possibility  of  finding  men  suitable 
for  their  organization  and  leadership.  In  criticising 
a  scheme  advanced  by  the  author  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  research  laboratory  of  great  size 
to  undertake  researches  for  the  entire  industry  of  a 
country,  W.  R.  Campbell1  objects  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  one  man  to  supervise  adequately  so  vast 
an  undertaking,  that  he  would  inevitably  favor  those 
subjects  on  which  he  had  himself  worked,  and  that 
a  lack  of  balance  would  ensue.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  at  the  present  time  this  criticism  is  valid,  but 
it  may  be  remembered  that  the  same  criticism  had 
been  made  regarding  the  possibility  of  operating 
large  armies,  and  that  nevertheless  soldiers  were 
found  capable  of  handling  the  vast  groups  of  armies 

1  National  Research,  by  W.  R.  CAMPBELL,  Pulp  and  Paper  Maga- 
zine of  Canada. 
7 


98  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

who  fought  in  the  great  war.  Men  of  such  calibre 
are,  of  course,  very  rare  and  probably  the  organiza- 
tion of  research  has  not  yet  progressed  sufficiently  to 
enable  them  to  obtain  the  necessary  experience  and 
training  in  minor  positions. 

In  the  organization  of  a  laboratory  it  is  essential  to 
take  into  account  the  peculiarities  of  the  individuals 
who  compose  it.  Men  are  of  very  different  types 
with  regard  to  their  ability  to  work  together  or  their 
preference  for  working  single-handed.  Some  men 
prefer  to  co-operate  with  others  and  to  work  in  groups; 
others  prefer  to  work  almost  entirely  by  themselves 
and  on  their  own  initiative,  following  up  one  line  of 
work  until  they  have  solved  all  its  problems  for 
themselves.  Some  men  prefer  to  have  a  number  of 
assistants  under  their  direction  who  will  carry  out 
instructions  literally,  so  that  the  work  of  the  whole 
group  of  men  is  based  on  the  ideas  and  initiative  of 
the  senior  man,  while  others  again  prefer  to  do  the 
greater  part  of  their  work  with  their  own  hands  arid 
are  not  interested  in  directing  the  activities  of  younger 
men,  preferring  that  any  assistants  should  be  capable 
of  carrying  on  work  more  or  less  on  their  own  initiative 
and  without  any  explicit  direction. 

It  is  impossible  to  consider  any  rigid  system  of 
organization  where  men  are  of  such  different  types 
and  opinions.  A  departmental  system  in  which  the 
younger  men  are  all  directly  responsible  to  senior 
men,  who  in  their  turn  are  responsible  to  the  director, 
may  be  very  satisfactory  with  some  senior  men  and 
some  junior  men  but  will  be  unsatisfactory  to  the 
senior  men  who  do  not  wish  to  direct  the  activity  of 
others,  and  to  those  junior  men  whose  temperaments  are 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY         99 

such  that  they  feel  continually  hampered  unless  they 
are  allowed  to  develop  their  own  ideas. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  system  of  organization  hi 
which  each  man  carries  on  a  piece  of  work  for  himself 
may  be  very  satisfactory  to  some  men,  but  others  of 
insufficient  initiative  may  be  unable  to  do  any  satis- 
factory work  under  such  a  system,  although  as  assist- 
ants to  other  men  who  could  supply  the  ideas  they 
would  prove  excellent  investigators.1 

In  the  organization,  therefore,  of  a  laboratory,  pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  men  of  different  types,  and 
while  on  the  whole  a  departmental  organization  is 
desirable,  and  the  heads  of  the  departments  must 
necessarily  be  responsible  for  the  work  of  their  depart- 
ments, yet  it  should  not  be  impossible  for  a  young  man 
who  displays  real  originality  to  branch  out  into  a 
research  on  his  own  account  and  of  his  own  initiative. 

On  the  other  hand  many  of  the  younger  assistants 

1  For  some  reason  or  other  it  is  generally  considered  that  men  who 
wish  to  work  alone  and  carry  out  their  own  ideas  are  of  a  higher 
intellectual  type  than  the  organizer  who  prefers  to  carry  on  work 
which  requires  a  great  many  hands  to  develop,  but  for  which  his  own 
brain  can  do  the  thinking.  The  first  type  of  man  seems  to  have  the 
public  sympathy  to  the  highest  degree ;  he  is  considered  more  original 
and  of  the  more  important  type.  This  is  probably  a  complete  error; 
not  only  does  the  organizer  who  can  organize  more  men  produce  the 
greater  volume  of  work,  but,  also,  he  trains  men  and  establishes  a 
school  for  the  whole  product  of  which  he  is  entitled  to  some  degree  of 
credit.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  we  have  such  an  investigator  as 
Darwin,  who,  by  reason  of  his  physical  limitations,  necessarily  worked 
alone,  while  on  the  other  we  have  such  a  master  teacher  as  Liebig, 
or,  in  more  recent  years,  Fischer.  Great  as  was  Darwin's  personal 
work,  who  can  doubt  that  if  Darwin  had  been  able  to  carry  out  his 
work  in  connection  with  many  other  men  not  only  would  far  more 
work  have  been  done,  but  the  school  that  he  would  have  created  would 
have  promoted  the  progress  of  biology  to  an  extent  which  no  single 
man  could  hope  to  do? 


100  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

will  want  to  fly  before  their  wings  are  grown,  and  will 
feel  capable  of  directing  their  own  work  long  before 
they  really  have  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  methods 
of  research  to  do  so  economically,  and  it  is  necessary 
to  repress  such  endeavors  without  crushing  the  initia- 
tive of  the  men  themselves.  A  man  must  realize  on 
entering  research  work  that  he  must  be  prepared  to 
work  on  the  ideas  of  others  for  a  number  of  years  in 
order  that  he  may  obtain  the  knowledge  necessary  to 
arrange  the  exploitation  of  his  own. 

It  is  very  important  that  each  man  should  have 
proper  credit  given  him  for  the  work  he  does.  In  the 
publication  of  research  the  paper  should  be  under  the 
name  of  the  man  who  initiated  it  unless  another  man 
did  a  large  part  of  the  experimental  work,  in  which 
case  both  names  should  be  put  on  the  paper.  Men  are 
very  jealous  of  credit  for  the  work  they  do,  and  justly 
so,  and  this  point  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  when 
considering  the  question  of  publication.  The  publi- 
cation of  the  scientific  results  obtained  in  a  research 
laboratory  is  quite  essential  in  order  to  maintain  the 
interest  of  the  laboratory  staff  in  pure  science.  When 
the  men  come  to  a  laboratory  from  the  university 
they  are  generally  very  interested  in  the  progress  of 
pure  science,  but  they  rapidly  become  absorbed  in  the 
special  problems  presented  to  them,  and  without 
definite  effort  on  the  part  of  those  responsible  for  the 
direction  of  the  laboratory  there  is  great  danger  that 
they  will  not  keep  in  touch  with  the  work  that  is  being 
done  by  other  workers  in  their  own  and  allied  fields. 
Then-  interest  can  be  stimulated  by  journal  meetings 
and  scientific  conferences,  but  the  greatest  stimulation 
is  afforded  by  the  publication  in  the  usual  scienti- 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY       101 

fic  journals  of  the  scientific  results  which  they  them- 
selves obtain. 

In  scientific  investigation  a  long  time  is  often  re- 
quired before  any  results  of  value  can  be  ob tamed. 
An  investigator  starting  in  a  laboratory  will  usually 
take  a  considerable  time  before  he  has  acquired  suffi- 
cient knowledge  of  the  special  subject  on  which  he  is 
starting  work  to  carry  on  his  work  effectively,  unless 
that  work  is  of  a  type  identical  with  an  investigation 
on  which  he  has  been  engaged  before  entering  the 
laboratory.  There  are  two  points  which  arise  from 
this  fact:  In  the  first  place,  a  man  who  has  passed 
through  the  initial  period  and  is  actually  engaged  hi 
effective  research  in  the  laboratory  obviously  repre- 
sents a  considerable  investment,  since  he  has  been 
paid  his  salary  during  the  initial  period  and  has  prob- 
ably also  spent  a  considerable  amount  of  money  in 
experimental  work  without  obtaining  very  much  hi 
the  way  of  returns.  If  men  leave  a  laboratory,  there- 
fore, after  training,  they  represent  a  considerable 
financial  loss  to  the  laboratory.  This  is  the  same 
problem  as  the  turn-over  of  labor  in  a  business  or- 
ganization, but  with  the  difference  that  the  training 
of  scientific  men  is  usually  a  far  more  costly  matter 
than  the  training  of  even  skilled  labor  in  a  factory. 
The  other  aspect  of  the  matter  is  that  a  man  is  likely 
to  become  very  much  discouraged  during  this  initial 
period.  He  comes  to  the  laboratory  full  of  enthusiasm 
and  anxious  to  make  a  success  of  his  work,  and  at  the 
end  of  eighteen  months  he  finds  himself  without  any- 
thing to  show  for  his  pains — often  without  even  the 
outline  of  a  scientific  paper — and  he  is  much  tempted 
either  to  change  and  try  his  luck  elsewhere  or  to  turn 


102  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

to  some  minor  piece  of  work  which  promises  an  im- 
mediate return  instead  of  carrying  out  the  more  diffi- 
cult fundamental  work  for  which  he  has  been  prepar- 
ing. Some  of  the  most  important  researches  require 
many  years  of  work  before  they  give  any  results  of 
value,  and  it  is  difficult  during  this  period  to  prevent 
both  the  research  workers  themselves  and  those  re- 
sponsible for  the  management  and  direction  of  the 
work  from  becoming  disheartened  and  abandoning 
the  work  in  a  half  completed  condition.  Patience 
and  willingness  to  wait  for  results  are  essential  both 
on  the  part  of  the  investigators  and  on  the  part 
of  those  in  whose  hands  lies  the  direction  of  the 
laboratory. 

Not  infrequently,  men  who  are  engaged  in  some 
definite  line  of  investigation  have  other  interests  in 
scientific  work  along  which  they  would  like  to  try 
some  experiments,  and,  provided  that  it  does  not 
interfere  too  greatly  with  the  general  work  of  the 
laboratory,  it  is  most  advisable  that  a  man  should  be 
allowed  to  follow  such  a  hobby  to  some  extent.  It 
might  seem  that  a  man's  time  should  be  divided  and 
he  should  be  allowed  a  certain  proportion  of  it  for 
scientific  work  of  personal  interest  to  himself,  but  in 
practice  this  will  generally  be  found  impossible  since 
some  men  have  no  interest  in  any  work  other  than 
that  on  which  they  are  engaged  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  time,  while  in  other  cases  the  regular  work  may 
be  so  pressing  that  it  is  not  possible  to  allow  any  other 
line  of  work  to  be  carried  on  simultaneously.  If 
possible,  however,  men  should  always  be  allowed  to 
follow  out  their  own  lines  of  thought,  since  in  this 
way  many  of  the  most  valuable  discoveries  will  be 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY       103 

made  and  the  keenness  and  interest  of  the  men  them- 
selves will  be  stimulated. 

In  connection  with  the  discussion  of  the  organization 
of  research  which  has  been  carried  on  in  the  last  few 
years  there  have  not  been  wanting  signs  that  many 
research  workers  are  dissatisfied  with  the  conditions 
attaching  to  their  profession,  and  while  the  standing 
of  scientific  men  is  rapidly  improving,  it  certainly 
cannot  as  yet  be  considered  to  be  altogether  satis- 
factory. 

Hitherto,  a  man  who  has  chosen  to  become  a 
scientific  investigator  by  profession  has  been  expected 
to  be  prepared  to  sacrifice  in  the  interest  of  his  scientific 
work  a  certain  amount  of  material  prosperity  as  com- 
pared with  that  which  he  would  probably  be  able  to 
attain  if  he  entered  such  other  professions  as  the  law, 
medicine  or  engineering.  The  teacher  is  notoriously 
underpaid,  although  he  obtains  some  compensation 
for  this  in  that  he  has  a  larger  amount  of  leisure  time 
than  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  other  men,  but  the  research 
worker  rarely  is  able  to  take  much  relaxation  from 
his  work,  and  his  payment  until  recently  was  cal- 
culated on  the  lowest  possible  scale. 

With  the  increasing  number  of  laboratories  the 
competition  for  capable  workers  is  producing  a  con- 
siderable increase  in  their  remuneration,  and  it  is  not 
too  much  to  expect  that  before  long  scientific  research 
will  be  a  well  paid  profession  which  will  be  attractive 
even  to  these  who  esteem  financial  rewards  above  all 
other  considerations.  It  may  be  thought  that  such 
considerations  will  not  produce  first-class  investiga- 
tors, and  undoubtedly  a  man  who  is  attracted  to 
research  for  money  is  unlikely  to  possess  the  necessary 


104  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

temperament  for  success,  but  the  great  financial 
prizes  offered  to  first-class  surgeons,  lawyers,  and 
engineers  have  not  prevented  their  development  even 
if  they  have  not  stimulated  it. 

To  a  certain  extent  the  salaries  paid  for  industrial 
research  will  be  kept  down  by  the  competition  of  the 
very  badly  paid  scientific  men  of  the  universities,  but 
eventually  the  demand  for  research  men  will  result 
in  the  universities  losing  at  once  all  those  men  who 
are  capable  of  work  in  applied  science  unless  they  meet 
the  competition  by  raising  their  standard  of  payment 
very  greatly. 

A  point  which  frequently  arises  in  connection  with 
the  remuneration  of  men  engaged  in  research  is  the 
method  of  remuneration.  Should  research  men  re- 
ceive a  straight  salary,  or  should  they  be  entitled  to 
an  interest  in  the  profits  arising  from  their  work?  It 
is  often  urged  that  an  investigator  has  a  right  to  a 
proportion  of  the  profits  obtained  from  his  work  and 
also  that  when  payment  is  by  fixed  salary  there  is  a 
tendency  for  the  work  to  become  perfunctory.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  judgment  of  most  men  directing 
large  laboratories  is  definitely  against  any  system 
of  payment  by  results.  In  the  first  place,  if  a  man  is 
to  share  in  the  profits  resulting  from  his  work  he 
must  also  share  hi  its  risks;  that  is,  he  must  accept  a 
small  salary  in  the  hope  of  being  paid  if  he  succeeds. 
Such  speculation  in  their  own  skill  is  for  those  who 
desire  it,  most  scientific  men  will  regard  it  as  the 
function  of  the  employer  to  take  the  risks  and  to 
assure  them  a  satisfactory  livelihood  while  they  are 
in  his  employ.  In  the  second  place,  the  effect  of 
payment  by  results  in  a  large  laboratory  is  most 


THE  STAFF  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY        105 

undesirable.  Men  naturally  want  to  engage  in  work 
which  will  result  hi  direct  and  visible  financial  gain, 
and  hesitate  to  carry  on  fundamental  work  for  which 
no  commercial  application  can  be  seen.  Also,  men 
are  sufficiently  jealous  regarding  the  credit  for  their 
work  without  the  added  incentive  to  jealousy  which 
would  be  supplied  if  payment  were  to  depend  upon 
the  allocation  of  credit;  and  jealousy  is  fatal  to  co- 
operation. There  is  a  considerable  amount  of  luck 
attached  to  the  allocation  of  research  problems.  One 
man  may  take  up  a  subject  and  after  a  comparatively 
short  tune  may  produce  results  which  are  directly 
applicable  to  manufacture  and  give  an  immediate 
return,  whereas  an  equally  good  man  may  spend 
years  on  a  problem  and  produce  only  negative  results, 
although  the  results  may  be  of  great  indirect  value. 
On  the  whole,  the  best  plan,  probably,  is  to  pay 
men  by  fixed  salary,  advancing  their  salaries  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quality  of  their  work,  whether  that 
work  results  ha  direct  financial  gain  or  not. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF 
THE  LABORATORY 

The  laboratory  building  itself  should,  if  possible, 
be  designed  especially  for  the  work  which  it  is  intended 
to  undertake,  and  the  form  adopted  will  depend  very 
much  upon  the  work  which  is  to  be  carried  out  and 
upon  external  circumstances,  such  as  location,  sur- 
rounding buildings,  etc.  This  can  be  very  well  illus- 
trated by  a  quotation  from  the  report  by  the  Dean 
of  Engineering  at  Columbia  University  with  regard 
to  the  erection  of  a  new  laboratory  for  work  on  applied 
science  in  connection  with  the  school: 

"The  cost  of  establishing  research  laboratories  such  as  we  have 
in  mind  will  of  course  depend  largely  upon  the  site,  which  should 
be  close  to  tidewater  and  to  railroad  facilities.  But  a  comparison 
with  what  we  can  get  on  our  present  site  may  help  us  to  arrive  at 
approximate  figures.  The  site  at  the  northeast  corner  of  116th 
Street  and  Broadway  has  been  tentatively  assigned  for  the  next 
Applied  Science  building,  when  funds  for  it  may  become  available. 
A  building  on  this  site  would  have  to  conform  with  Hamilton, 
Kent  and  Journalism  and  would  cost  at  least  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  With  the  same  amount  of  money  we  could,  however, 
buy  a  site  with  railroad  and  water  facilities  within  five  minutes 
walk  of  the  University,  erect  on  it  a  building  twice  the  size,  of  a 
modern  factory  construction  much  better  suited  to  our  purpose, 
and  have  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  left  over  for 
equipment." 

As  a  general  rule,  a  factory  type  of  building  is  that 
most  suitable  for  research  laboratories,  and  while  the 
building  should  be  sufficiently  pleasant  to  give  an 

106 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     107 

air  of  distinction,  unnecessary  architectural  ornamen- 
tation involves  expenditure  which  might  better  be 
devoted  to  the  carrying  on  of  research  work.  The 
policy  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
in  this  respect  should  be  a  model  to  the  world.  By 
careful  design,  they  were  able  to  erect  then*  new  build- 
ing at  a  cost  not  greatly  in  excess  of  factory  building 
costs  and  of  the  architectural  construction  associated 
with  factory  buildings,  while  the  external  appearance 
of  the  building  is  quite  worthy  of  the  important  insti- 
tution which  it  houses. 

It  is  a  mistake  for  a  factory  to  house  a  research 
laboratory  in  some  abandoned  building  designed  for 
other  purposes.  The  annual  cost  of  research  work  is 
very  high  in  comparison  with  the  cost  of  the  building 
itself.  The  greater  part  of  that  expenditure  is  on  the 
salaries  of  the  men  carrying  out  the  work,  and  any 
inconveniences  or  disadvantages  which  may  be  caused 
by  their  working  conditions  and  surroundings  can  easily 
depress  the  production  to  an  extent  which  renders  such 
economies  very  unprofitable.  The  cost  of  the  research 
man,  in  fact,  is  so  high  that  it  is  worth  while  to  pro- 
vide him  with  the  very  best  facilities  for  carrying 
out  his  work,  since,  provided  money  is  not  actually 
wasted  on  useless  ornaments,  these  facilities  will 
always  be  inexpensive  in  comparison  with  the  total 
expenditure  on  the  work. 

Research  laboratories  are  almost  always  too  small, 
and  it  is  really  desirable  that,  in  designing  such  a 
laboratory,  some  system  of  construction  should  be 
chosen  hi  which  expansion  can  be  obtained  by  the 
duplication  of  units.  This  is,  of  course,  a  very  diffi- 
cult thing  to  obtain,  especially  hi  the  details  of  the 


108  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

laboratory,  but,  nevertheless,  it  should  certainly  be 
aimed  at  by  the  architect,  since  whatever  the  size  of 
the  laboratory  when  it  is  designed,  it  is  safe  to 
prophesy  that  within  a  very  few  years  expansion  will 
be  necessary,  and  if  direct  expansion  is  not  possible,  this 
will  take  the  form  of  detached  groups  of  men  work- 
ing in  other  places,  an  inconvenient  and  uneconomical 
arrangement. 

The  difficulty  of  arranging  for  such  expansion  may  be 
realized  by  considering  the  question  of  the  library. 
The  library  is  a  very  important  section  of  the  research 
laboratory.  It  is  constantly  required  by  every  scien- 
tific man  in  the  laboratory  and  must  consequently  be 
located  in  a  convenient  and  central  position  in  the 
main  building.  But  it  also  grows  rapidly,  and  as  it 
grows  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  provide  for  its  expan- 
sion, since  it  will  be  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  other 
rooms  which  are  fully  occupied,  and  from  which  any 
removal  means  a  great  loss  of  time  and  energy. 

The  cost  of  moving  in  research  work  is  not  always 
realized.  Moving  into  a  new  building  will  involve 
approximately  half  the  total  cost  of  the  structure 
since  the  men  will  not  be  working  again  at  full  speed 
in  less  than  six  months,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
annual  expenditure  is  equal  to  the  cost  of  the  building 
and  equipment.  It  is  important  therefore  in  designing 
a  laboratory  to  arrange,  if  possible,  that  all  expansion 
may  take  place  without  any  considerable  rearrange- 
ment. An  aid  to  this  is  to  make  the  internal  divisions 
of  a  laboratory  movable  as  far  as  is  possible,  and 
while  the  building  itself  should  be  of  fire-proof 
construction,  it  will  be  convenient  to  make  partitions 
of  composition  board  and  wood  wherever  the  fire  risk 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     109 

does  not  prohibit  this.  In  this  way  rooms  can  easily 
be  subdivided,  combined  or  rearranged. 

It  is  most  advisable  that  all  research  work  under 
the  same  general  direction  should  be  conducted  under 
the  same  roof,  since  only  in  this  way  can  good  co- 
operation between  the  departments  be  obtained,  and 
the  facilities  and  organization  of  the  whole  department 
be  available  to  all  the  workers.  In  technical  research, 
where  it  is  often  necessary  to  install  model  plants  on  a 
small  scale,  this  cannot  always  be  carried  out;  but, 
as  far  as  possible,  a  research  laboratory  should  be  a 
real  building  and  not  merely  the  name  for  a  number  of 
scattered  departments  at  some  distance  from  each 
other. 

Perhaps  the  best  method  of  providing  for  the  inevi- 
table expansion  of  a  research  laboratory  is  to  make  the 
building  intended  for  its  use  much  bigger  than  is 
required  for  the  laboratory  itself,  the  space  not  im- 
mediately required  for  the  laboratory  being  occupied 
by  manufacturing  departments  of  a  type  which  do  not 
need  the  permanent  installation  of  heavy  machinery. 
Then,  as  the  laboratory  expands,  the  manufacturing 
departments  can  be  moved  and  the  space  vacated 
occupied  by  the  laboratory.  In  one  or  two  cases  labo- 
ratories have  been  installed  in  new  buildings  of  eight 
or  twelve  stories,  built  with  special  consideration  for 
then:  needs,  but  of  which  only  two  floors  were  occu- 
pied by  the  laboratory  at  the  beginning,  other  floors 
being  taken  over  as  the  laboratory  work  increased. 

In  a  modern  progressive  firm  the  size  of  the  labo- 
ratory will  double  every  five  years;  this  has  been  the 
experience  of  most  firms  which  have  started  research 
laboratories,  and  though,  of  course,  there  must  be  a 


110  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

limit  to  this  expansion,  our  experience  is  not  yet  suffi- 
cient to  show  where  this  limit  should  be  placed. 

The  descriptions  of  a  number  of  modern  laboratory 
buildings  have  been  published.1  Reference  should  es- 
pecially be  made  to  the  paper  by  Mr.  A.  P.  M. 
Fleming  on  "  Planning  a  Works  Research  Organiza- 
tion/'2 In  this  paper  plans  are  given  for  research 
buildings  of  6,000,  13,000,  and  50,000  sq.  ft.  floor  areas 
with  many  valuable  suggestions  in  regard  to  the  design 
and  equipment  of  laboratories.  By  the  kindness  of 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
panies and  of  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting,  the  director  of  their 
research  laboratory,  I  am  enabled  to  publish  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  building  which  was  erected 
specially  to  house  that  laboratory,  which  may  per- 
haps be  considered  typical  of  a  modern  laboratory 
building  of  the  best  type. 

The  building  stands  on  an  elevation  above  the  Ard- 
more  Boulevard  between  the  Works  of  the  Company 
and  the  city  of  Pittsburgh.  The  design  of  the  building 
is  intended  to  provide  maximum  efficiency  of  service 
and  comfort  to  the  workers,  with  a  minimum  of  ex- 
pense. Architecturally,  the  building  is  plain  and 
simple,  but  very  substantial.  It  is  of  reinforced  con- 
crete and  brick,  trimmed  with  white  terra  cotta. 

It  comprises  a  main  building  50  ft.  X  150  ft.  with 
three  stories  and  finished  basement,  together  with  a 
detached  power  plant,  30  ft.  X  70  ft.  The  plans  provide 

1  See  especially  W.  A.  TILDEN,   "Chemical  Laboratories  and  the 
Work  Done  in  Them."     London,  1916. 

W.  A.  HAMOE,  Jour.,  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  p.  333. 

A.  D.  LITTLE  and  H.  E.  HOWE,  Amer.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  June,  1919. 

2  A.   P.  M.  FLEMING,  Jour,  of  The  Institution  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, 1919,  p.  153. 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     111 

for  further  extensions  in  the  shape  of  two  wings,  one 
at  each  end,  these  wings  to  be  45  ft.  hi  width  and  any 
necessary  length  up  to  150  ft.  or  200  ft. 

The  standard  size  of  laboratory  room  is  approxi- 
mately 16  X  20  ft.  The  partitions,  except  those 
necessarily  permanent,  are  of  paneled  wood.  These 
partitions  are  readily  movable  and  the  floor  layout  is 
such  that  they  may  be  placed  at  any  8  ft.  interval. 
The  design  of  the  building  was  intended  to  provide 
for  the  ready  shifting  of  these  partitions  as  might  be 
found  necessary  to  accommodate  any  particular  type 
of  research.  To  date,  the  rooms  16  X  20  ft.  and  16  X 
32  ft.  have  been  found  to  be  very  satisfactory  and  no 
change  in  the  partitions  has  yet  been  found  desirable. 

The  lighting  of  the  building  is  by  small  distributed 
units,  six  units  being  installed  for  each  6  X  20  ft.  area. 
The  heating  is  by  low  pressure  steam,  furnished  from 
a  boiler  located  in  the  detached  power  house.  All 
electric  power  is  obtained  from  the  local  lighting  corn- 
any  at  13,200  volts,  3-phase,  60  cycles,  the  transformer 
being  located  hi  a  fireproof  room  which  is  a  part  of 
the  detached  power  house.  Here  the  current  is  trans- 
formed to  440,  220  and  100  volts  for  motors,  lights 
and  direct  power  service  to  the  laboratories. 

In  the  design  of  the  building  special  attention  was 
given  to  the  means  of  running  pipe  and  wire  services 
hi  such  a  way  as  to  enable  these  services  to  be  brought 
into  any  laboratory  when  needed,  without  disturbing 
any  other  part  of  the  building  and  with  minimum 
length  of  lines.  All  of  the  main  pipes  and  electric 
power  lines  are  brought  to  a  shaft  at  approximately  the 
center  of  the  building,  through  a  tunnel  from  the 
power  house.  A  small  substation,  consisting  of  a 


112  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

number  of  motor  generator  sets  for  securing  various 
kinds  of  current,  is  located  in  the  basement  of  the 
main  building,  close  to  the  main  tunnel  from  the  power 
house  and  these  modified  services  are  relayed  to  the 
various  laboratories  through  the  center  shaft  along 
with  the  various  direct  services,  pipe  services,  etc. 

Connecting  with  this  service  shaft  are  tunnels  over 
the  center  halls  of  the  building,  through  which  the 
distribution  of  the  electric  and  other  service  is  carried. 
Panels  through  which  wires  and  pipes  may  be  readily 
carried  from  the  duct  to  the  various  rooms  are  provided 
in  each  laboratory  room.  Approximately  at  the  mid- 
dle of  each  group  of  rooms  on  each  side  of  the  hall, 
a  floor  duct,  6  X  12  in.  is  installed  under  the  maple 
flooring  and  every  8  ft.  two  2-in.  iron  pipes  are  laid 
in  the  floor  from  this  floor  duct  to  the  tunnel  over  the 
halls.  These  ducts  and  the  floor  duct  provide  for  light, 
pipe  and  wire  service  to  the  center  of  any  room  or  to 
the  walls  of  the  room,  as  may  be  desired. 

The  pipe  service  consists  of  natural  gas,  compressed 
air,  house  vacuum,  and  hot  and  cold  water.  Distilled 
water  is  obtained  from  a  still  with  a  tin-lined  storage 
tank  located  in  a  pent  house  on  the  roof  and  is  de- 
livered to  the  various  laboratories  in  bottles. 

The  power  house  contains  motor  generator  sets  for 
supplying  single  phase,  two  phase  and  three  phase 
current  at  220  volts,  and  direct  current  at  250  volts 
(three-wire  circuit).  A  motor-driven  air  compressor 
supplies  compressed  air  at  125  pounds  pressure  and  a 
large  motor-driven  vacuum  pump  supplies  the  neces- 
sary house  vacuum.  A  liquid  air  machine  capable  of 
supplying  1J£  to  2  liters  of  liquid  air  per  hour  is  also 
located  in  the  main  power  house. 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     113 

The  storage  battery  is  located  in  a  separate  room 
in  the  basement  of  the  power  house  and  consists  of  a 
total  of  218  cells,  so  divided  that  various  groupings 
and  combinations  may  be  obtained  as  desired. 

The  small  substation  in  the  basement  includes, 
together  with  the  necessary  service,  the  following 
equipment : 

One  three-machine  motor-generator,  consisting  of 
one  250-volt  compound  wound,  direct-current  motor, 
and  two  60-cycle,  25-kw.  generators,  one  wound  for 
220  volts  and  one  for  440  volts;  one  25-kw.  motor- 
generator  for  supplying  500  volts  direct  current;  one 
12.5-kw.  motor-generator  for  supplying  125  volts 
direct  current;  one  10-kva.  motor-generator  for 
furnishing  any  frequency  from  50  to  133  cycles;  one 
4-kva.  motor-generator  with  harmonic  booster  for 
controlling  the  wave  form  for  supplying  any  fre- 
quency from  133  to  800  cycles;  and  a  special  motor 
generator,  supplying  from  15  to  70  cycles,  used  for 
magnetic  testing.  A  control  board  and  a  disconnect- 
ing switch  type  of  relay  board  make  it  possible  to 
connect  these  machines  to  any  of  the  circuits  through 
the  building.  Relay  lines  lead  to  the  various  rooms 
through  the  vertical  shaft  and  the  horizontal  ducts 
over  the  corridors.  The  wiring,  all  of  which  is 
placed  hi  conduit,  is  generally  of  100-ampere  capacity. 
The  scheme  is,  in  general,  to  have  a  limited  number  of 
relays  leading  to  the  laboratories,  and  then  switch  on 
to  these  relay  lines  any  desired  electric  circuit. 

In  one  end  of  the  basement  is  located  the  furnace 
room  with  a  battery  of  electric  furnaces  of  various 
types,  together  with  the  necessary  control  for  melting, 
annealing  and  various  metallurgicatprocesses.  Stacks 


114  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

are  provided  at  each  end  of  the  building  with  openings 
in  the  basement  for  experimental  furnaces  using  fuel, 
usually  natural  gas.  The  wood  working  and  metal 
working  shop  and  store-room  are  also  located  in  the 
basement. 

On  the  first  and  main  floor  are  the  main  and  private 
offices,  the  library  and  the  conference  room.  The 
remainder  of  this  floor  is  assigned  to  physical,  electrical 
and  magnetic  research.  Next  to  the  metallographic 
room  is  a  dark  room.  The  second  floor,  which  at 
present  is  not  entirely  finished,  will  be  given  over  to 
the  same  general  class  of  work  as  the  first  floor.  The 
third  floor  is  devoted  to  chemical  and  electro-chemical 
research,  illumination  laboratories,  and  a  glass  blowing 
room.  On  this  floor,  which  is  laid  out  primarily  for 
chemical  work,  most  of  the  laboratories  are  provided 
with  hoods  with  individual  flues.  These  hoods  are 
of  alberene  stone  and  are  closed  with  glass  doors. 
The  flues,  which  are  lead-lined,  have  a  natural  draft 
which  has  proved  quite  sufficient  for  practically  all 
work.  Forced  draft  can  readily  be  provided  for  any 
hood,  if  found  necessary.  On  the  roof  is  a  commodious 
pent  house,  in  which  the  major  electrolytic  researches 
are  carried  on;  and  it  is  arranged  to  take  care  of  other 
work  which  requires  a  water-tight  floor  or  plenty  of 
fresh  air.  A  tiled  space  on  the  roof  provides  for  out- 
door experiments. 

The  keynote  in  the  design  of  this  building  has  been 
to  provide  for  adequate  service  to  any  particular 
laboratory  room  with  the  minimum  of  disturbance  to 
other  parts  of  the  building  and  for  ready  changes  in 
room  size  or  service  as  the  character  of  the  work 
changes  from  time  to  time.  The  general  type  of 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     115 

distribution  of  services  is  not  new,  but  it  is  found  to  be 
very  effective  and  satisfactory.  The  individual  rooms 
contain  more  or  less  standard  equipment,  such  as  a 
standard  arrangement  of  electric  outlets.  Gas,  vacuum, 
conpressed  air  and  heavy  current  wires  are  provided 
for  practically  all  of  the  laboratories,  and  special  relays 
are  run  as  demanded. 

Everything  that  has  been  said  as  to  the  necessity 
for  the  provision  of  a  satisfactory  building  applies 
also  to  the  question  of  equipment,  but  with  even 
greater  force.  It  is  an  economic  error  to  allow  ex- 
pensive men  to  be  short  of  the  apparatus  which  they 
require  for  then*  work.  As  a  general  rule,  men  will 
not  ask  for  apparatus  which  they  do  not  need.  There 
are  a  very  few  men  who  might  be  considered  to  be 
apparatus  collectors,  and  who  seem  to  have  a  real 
anxiety  to  surround  themselves  with  all  forms  of 
scientific  apparatus,  whether  they  have  any  use  for 
them  or  not;  but  with  the  exception  of  these  men, 
who  are  limited  in  number,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  when  a  research  worker  asks  for  apparatus  he 
needs  it  and  must  have  it  in  some  form  or  other  to 
continue  his  work.  To  force  an  expensive  man  to 
work  with  substitutes  for  properly  designed  instru- 
ments, or,  worse  still,  to  spend  his  own  time  in  attempt- 
ing to  build  instruments  when  they  could  have  been 
purchased,  is  very  poor  economy.  An  illustration  of 
this  was  afforded  when  a  chemist  occupying  an  impor- 
tant position  in  a  large  firm  asked  for  a  special  piece 
of  apparatus  costing  about  $500.  After  an  amount 
of  consideration  which  would  scarcely  have  been 
justified  for  the  erection  of  a  new  building,  the  direc- 
tors declined  his  request,  and  ordered  him  to  purchase 


116  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

a  piece  of  apparatus  of  the  same  type  for  $280,  which 
was  unsuited  for  his  work;  and  he  then  spent  three 
months  in  making  the  second  apparatus  do  what  the 
first  would  have  done  as  soon  as  he  obtained  it. 

The  total  cost  of  equipment  for  a  physical  laboratory 
represents  about  two  months  cost  of  operation,  and, 
if  economies  are  to  be  made,  it  is  clear  that  they  should 
be  made  by  limiting  the  amount  of  work  undertaken 
and  the  consequent  cost  of  operation  rather  than  by 
depriving  the  workers  of  the  necessary  tools  for  their 
work. 

The  technical  equipment  of  a  research  laboratory 
building  is  of  great  importance  and  should  be  as  com- 
plete as  possible.  This  is  now  generally  understood, 
and  there  is  little  need  to  stress  the  fact  that  a  labora- 
tory requires  at  all  convenient  points  gas  and  steam, 
water  and  air,  electricity  at  several  voltages,  and  other 
special  supplies  according  to  the  work  carried  on. 

A  very  important  matter  in  most  research  labora- 
tories dealing  with  physics,  physical  chemistry  or 
engineering  is  the  provision  of  facilities  for  building 
instruments.  The  chief  item  of  expenditure  in  such 
laboratories,  after  the  salaries  of  the  investigators, 
will  be  the  construction  of  new  instruments,  which 
may  represent  as  much  as  10  per  cent,  of  the  total 
expenditure  on  the  laboratory,  so  that  a  laboratory 
may  spend  every  year  on  new  instruments  half  as 
much  as  the  value  of  its  original  equipment.  Build- 
ing instruments  is  necessarily  very  expensive  work, 
and  no  instrument  should  ever  be  built  if  it  can  be 
purchased,  since  building  a  new  instrument  involves 
the  whole  of  the  development  work  which  a  maker  of 
instruments  is  able  to  distribute  among  all  those 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     117 

which  he  makes  of  the  same  model.  But  even  more 
expensive  than  the  construction  of  the  instrument 
itself  is  the  delay  in  work  which  inevitably  results 
when  the  need  for  a  new  instrument  manifests  itself  and 
the  instrument  is  not  available.  When  a  man  has  to 
stop  to  construct  an  instrument,  which  is  often  a  very 
important  part  of  a  physical  research,  any  delays 
other  than  those  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  opera- 
tion must  be  avoided.  It  is  especially  important  that 
when  a  man  has  designed  the  apparatus  which  he  wants, 
the  actual  making  in  the  instrument  shop  should  be 
carried  out  as  quickly  as  possible.  A  research  labora- 
tory must,  therefore,  be  provided  with  an  adequate 
machine  shop  and  a  staff  of  mechanics,  and  it  is  dis- 
tinctly advisable  that  one  or  more  of  those  mechanics 
should  understand  machine  design  and  draftsmanship. 
It  is  generally  preferred  to  have  the  machine  shop 
directly  associated  with  the  research  laboratory  in 
the  laboratory  building  itself,  and  this  plan  has  ad- 
vantages, but  in  the  case  of  a  large  manufacturing 
company,  which  necessarily  maintains  an  engineering 
force  of  considerable  size,  it  may  be  better  to  have  the 
work  for  the  laboratory  done  under  the  direction  of  the 
mechanical  engineers  of  the  company  and  in  the  big 
shops,  provided  that  certain  mechanics  are  acquainted 
with  the  work  and  are  closely  associated  with  the 
investigators  in  the  laboratory.  In  the  case  of  the 
research  laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company 
this  scheme  was  tried  at  the  instance  of  the  chief 
engineer.  At  the  time,  the  scientific  staff  was  very 
doubtful  as  to  its  advisability.  All  the  men,  having 
come  from  different  laboratories,  had  been  accustomed 
to  having  a  tool  shop  in  direct  connection  with  the 


118  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

laboratory,  and  were  doubtful  as  to  whether  it  would 
be  advantageous  to  have  their  work  done  in  the  large 
tool  shops  of  the  plant.  Five  years'  experience,  how- 
ever, has  shown  that  the  engineer  was  right,  since 
intruments  are  certainly  built  far  more  rapidly  by  this 
plan  than  is  usual  in  laboratories  which  have  then- 
own  shops.  The  use  of  the  engineering  shop  for  the 
production  of  instruments  will  only  be  possible  when 
it  is  equipped  for  precision  work.  In  the  chemical 
industry,  where  the  construction  department  is  devoted 
to  large  machines  and  precision  work  is  rarely  at- 
tempted, satisfactory  results  are  more  likely  to  be 
obtained  from  a  laboratory  workshop  than  from  any 
use  of  the  large  shops  of  the  plant. 

The  question  of  equipment — both  its  extent  and 
its  type — depends  enormously  upon  the  kind  of  work 
done  in  the  laboratory.  A  purely  chemical  laboratory 
requires  little  specialized  equipment,  and  will  rarely 
have  to  make  new  instruments.  A  physical  labora- 
tory will  require  a  good  deal  of  equipment,  and  will 
constantly  be  making  new  apparatus.  In  fact,  a 
great  deal  of  the  work  of  a  physical  laboratory  consists 
in  the  design  and  construction  of  instruments,  while 
in  one  class  of  science — astronomy — the  equipment  is 
by  far  the  largest  item  of  the  entire  cost,  and  in  such 
institutions  as  Mt.  Wilson  Observatory  the  construc- 
tion of  new  instruments  has  been  an  important  part 
of  the  work  of  the  Observatory  since  its  foundation. 
These  differences  between  different  types  of  work  are 
well  brought  out  in  the  following  figures  for  the  differ- 
ent laboratories  supported  by  the  Carnegie  Institu- 
tion, taken  from  the  Year  Book  for  1915: 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     119 


Department 

Value  of  building 

Value  of  equip- 
ment shop  and 
laboratory 

Annual  grant 

Botanical  Research  

$49,385.10 

$12,063  21 

$40,615  00 

Experimental  Evolution  .  . 
Geophys.  Laboratory  
Nutrition  Laboratory  
Mt.  Wilson  Solar  Obser.  .  . 
Terrestrial  Magnetism  

103,149.20 
120,524.84 
117,200.15 
196,193.06 
131,616.33 

7,248.25! 
90,917.47 
20,827.26 
887,292.  372 
184,  505.  333 

48,919.00 
89,164.00 
45,064.00 
220,130.00 
141,310.00 

1  Omits  Operating  appliances  and  grounds  $19,897.95. 

2  Includes  Shop  equipment,  instruments,  furniture  and  operating 
appliances,   and   Hooker   100-inch  reflector  (The  amount  of  shop 
equipment  of  these  items  amounts  to  $37,129.26,  instru.  $394,460.17, 
reflector  $371,219.66). 

3  Includes  Vessel  and  survey  equipment  $129,417.12,  and  Instru- 
ments, laboratory  and  shop  equipment  $55,088.21. 

It  is  absolutely  essential  for  a  research  laboratory 
to  have  available  a  good  library  covering  the  various 
fields  of  its  work.  Dr.  Whitney  has  compared  a  li- 
brary to  a  storage  battery  of  great  capacity  and  indeed, 
a  library  represents  a  store  of  accumulated  knowledge 
which  can  be  made  available  and  which,  if  properly 
used,  will  save  a  great  deal  of  experimental  work. 
If  a  laboratory  is  situated  hi  such  a  position  that  good 
libraries  are  readily  available  outside  the  laboratory 
itself,  then  a  small  library  will  be  all  that  is  neces- 
sary hi  the  building,  but  if  such  an  external  library 
is  not  available,  the  library  of  the  laboratory  must  be 
fairly  complete,  and  it  will  be  especially  necessary  to 
have  good  sets  of  back  numbers  of  the  chief  scientific 
journals.  The  extent  to  which  completion  of  these 
sets  should  be  attempted  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt 
and  will  vary  considerably  from  one  laboratory  to 
another. 

Theoretically,  every  published  journal  should  be 


120  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

available  to  a  research  man,  but  the  necessity  for  ready 
availability  depends  upon  the  frequency  with  which 
a  journal  is  likely  to  be  required.  If  a  journal  is  not 
often  wanted,  one  complete  set  in  a  city  will  suffice, 
and  if  it  is  wanted  only  very  rarely,  it  may  not  be 
worth  while  to  duplicate  a  journal  which  can  be  reached 
by  a  railroad  journey.  Very  few  scientific  libraries, 
for  instance,  would  think  it  necessary  to  have  a  set  of 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  including  the  volumes 
of  earlier  date  than  1800,  and  would  be  willing  to  take 
the  risk  of  a  special  journey  to  obtain  the  information 
should  a  reference  to  such  an  early  journal  become 
necessary.  Moreover,  the  use  of  photostat  copying 
cameras  for  making  duplicates  of  references  which  can 
be  sent  by  mail  has  lessened  the  necessity  for  each 
laboratory  containing  rare  journals. 

A  library  will  generally  need  a  special  librarian,  and, 
since  good  librarians  are  very  interested  in  their  books 
and  take  a  real  pride  in  having  them  available,  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  exercise  some  restraint  to 
prevent  a  technical  librarian  becoming  a  book  col- 
lector. It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  technical  libra- 
rians who  are  very  proud  of  their  collection  of  rare 
and  out  of  date  books,  of  interest  only  from  a  histori- 
cal point  of  view,  while  the  latest  editions  of  reference 
works  of  very  great  practical  importance  are  lacking, 
and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  libraries — especially  those 
of  scientific  societies — which  apparently  contain  a 
large  number  of  books,  but  which  on  examination  are 
found  to  have  in  them  very  little  of  value  to  the 
practical  student  unless  he  is  interested  in  the  history 
of  the  subject.  From  the  point  of  view  of  a  research 
chemist,  the  last  part  issued  of  a  dictionary  of  technol- 


BUILDING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LABORATORY     121 

ogy  is  far  more  valuable  than  a  rare  work  published 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  however  dear  to  the  heart 
of  the  book  collector  the  latter  may  be. 

For  the  average  chemical  laboratory,  a  library  of 
about  5000  volumes  should  be  enough,  the  important 
chemical  journals  which  have  appeared  for  a  long 
period  of  years  representing  the  greater  number  of 
the  volumes  required. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK 

Various  methods  for  the  direction  of  the  work  of  a 
laboratory  are  in  operation.  In  some  cases  each  in- 
vestigator is  allowed  to  go  his  own  way,  discussing  his 
work  as  he  may  wish  with  those  around  him,  but  not 
formally  being  required  to  take  the  matter  up  with 
any  one.  In  university  laboratories,  and  in  many 
industrial  research  laboratories,  all  the  scientific  work 
is  supposed  to  be  directed  by  the  professor  in  charge 
or  by  the  director,  but  in  an  industrial  laboratory  of 
any  size  this  is  out  of  the  question,  since  it  is  impos- 
sible for  the  director  to  understand  sufficiently  the 
wide  field  of  science  covered  by  his  laboratory.  If  it  is 
attempted,  the  system  simply  resolves  itself  into  each 
senior  man  directing  the  work  of  his  own  division  and 
possibly  competing  for  men  and  apparatus  with  other 
workers  in  the  laboratory  hi  so  far  as  he  can  influence 
the  authorities  to  grant  them  to  him. 

It  is  obviously  better  for  the  scientific  work  of  a 
laboratory  to  be  directed  by  a  conference  or  series  of 
conferences  of  all  the  men  having  knowledge  applicable 
to  the  subject,  and  this  will  have  the  further  advan- 
tage that,  while  it  will  relieve  the  director  of  the  details 
of  the  direction  of  the  scientific  work,  it  will  keep  him 
constantly  informed  as  to  all  the  work  going  on  in  the 
laboratory. 

For  the  past  six  years  the  work  at  the  research 
laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company  has  been 

122 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  123 

directed  by  such  a  conference  system,  and  it  has  proved 
an  unqualified  success.  To  each  day  of  the  "week  there 
is  assigned  some  group  of  subjects.  On  Tuesday,  for 
instance,  all  questions  relating  to  chemical  products 
may  be  discussed;  on  Wednesday,  those  which  relate 
to  the  chemical  properties  of  photographic  materials; 
on  Thursday,  general  photographic  processes;  on  Fri- 
day, color  photography,  and  so  forth.  Each  group  of 
subjects  is  discussed  at  a  conference  held  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  morning,  and  there  is  present  at  each  con- 
ference every  scientific  worker  of  the  laboratory,  what- 
ever his  rank,  who  is  directly  engaged  on  the  work 
under  consideration,  and  also  representatives  from 
other  departments  of  the  laboratory  in  case  their 
assistance  and  advice  should  be  required. 

The  number  of  those  attending  a  conference  should 
preferably  be  more  than  four  and  less  than  ten.  The 
director  presides  at  all  conferences,  and  the  agenda 
are  drawn  from  the  minutes  of  the  last  conference. 
These  minutes  are  written  each  week  by  the  director's 
secretary,  who  takes  shorthand  notes  at  each  meeting. 

Consider,  typically,  a  conference  on  color  photog- 
raphy. This  subject  is  studied  in  the  photographic 
division  of  the  laboratory,  each  section  of  that  divi- 
sion doing  work  hi  its  own  sphere  on  the  subject.  At 
the  conference,  therefore,  there  are  present  the  senior 
men  who  direct  sections  of  the  photographic  division 
and  those  of  their  assistants  who  are  working  on  color 
photography.  These,  then,  represent  the  men  who 
are  actively  engaged  hi  work  on  the  subject  under 
discussion  at  the  conference.  There  are  also  present 
a  physicist,  who  can  give  advice  on  the  measurement 
of  color  and  on  photographic  sensitometry ;  a  colloid 


124  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

chemist,  whose  advice  is  often  very  valuable  in  relation 
to  the  properties  of  gelatine,  collodion,  etc;  and  a  dye 
chemist  from  the  organic  research  laboratory  whose 
advice  is  followed  in  matters  related  to  dyestuffs. 
At  the  conference,  the  senior  photographic  men 
report  on  the  work  which  has  gone  forward  in  their 
departments,  in  the  past  week,  and,  in  the  case  of  work 
which  has  been  carried  on  more  or  less  independently 
by  their  assistants,  those  assistants  report  on  their 
own  work.  Any  work  having  relation  to  color  photog- 
raphy which  has  been  referred  to  the  physical  or 
chemical  departments  is  also  reported. 

As  these  reports  are  made,  any  difficulties  which 
have  arisen  are  discussed  and  suggestions  made  for 
overcoming  them.  Frequently,  the  physics,  or- 
ganic chemistry  or  colloid  chemistry  departments  are 
requested,  through  their  representatives,  to  investi- 
gate some  detail  which  is  presenting  difficulties,  and 
as  the  reports  are  made  a  decision  as  to  how  the  work 
shall  be  carried  forward  during  the  next  week  is 
reached  by  the  common  opinion  of  the  members  of 
the  conference.  In  this  way  these  conferences  really 
direct  the  work  of  the  laboratory;  instead  of  the  work 
being  settled  in  a  personal  conference  between  the 
director  and  the  worker,  it  is  thrashed  out  at  this  weekly 
discussion  with  the  assistance  of  all  those  who  are 
working  along  allied  lines. 

The  conferences  generally  last  an  hour,  with  the 
exception  of  those  on  general  photography,  at  which 
many  diverse  subjects  are  discussed,  and  which  may 
last  about  an  hour  and  a  half. 

It  will  be  realized  that  this  conference  system  makes 
it  certain  that  the  work  of  everybody  in  the  laboratory 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  125 

will  be  considered  once  a  week,  that  the  difficulties 
will  be  explained  to,  or  discussed  by,  those  best  fitted 
to  assist  in  removing  them,  and  that,  at  the  same  time, 
there  is  a  valuable  check  in  the  conference  minutes 
against  matters  which  have  once  been  discussed  being 
dropped  and  forgotten. 

Should  any  matters  come  up  at  a  conference  which 
seem  to  require  the  assistance  of  those  who  are  not 
members  of  it,  they  ars  called  in  for  consultation,  and 
those  conferences  which  are  of  interest  to  members  of 
the  staff  outside  the  laboratory  are  attended  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  departments  interested,  thus  enabling 
the  laboratory  to  co-ordinate  its  work  more  closely 
with  the  practical  requirements  of  the  company. 

The  work  of  the  laboratory  for  a  year  can  be  repre- 
sented as  shown  on  the  chart  in  Fig.  7.  In  this  chart 
the  departments  of  the  laboratory  are  shown  as  cir- 
cles at  the  top  and  bottom,  while  the  conference  to 
which  reports  are  made  are  shown  as  rectangles  in 
the  middle  of  the  chart,  and  the  work  done  by  each 
department  and  reported  to  a  given  conference  is 
represented  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  circle  to  the 
corresponding  rectangle,  each  line  in  the  original 
chart  bearing  upon  it  the  title  of  the  piece  of  work  and 
also  an  indication  as  to  its  completion  or  otherwise, 
and  as  to  whether  the  work  was  published,  reported,  or 
otherwise  disposed  of.  It  will  be  noticed  that,  while 
at  some  conference,  almost  all  the  work  comes  from 
one  department  as,  for  instance,  almost  the  whole  of 
the  work  on  optics  and  the  theory  of  photography 
from  the  physics  department,  to  other  sections  of  the 
work  several  departments  contribute.  Thus,  hi  the 
central  rectangle,  representing  photographic  products, 


126 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  127 

every  single  department  has  two  or  more  lines  repre- 
senting different  pieces  of  work  done  in  relation  to 
photographic  products.  Such  a  chart  as  this  is  very 
convenient  for  summarizing  the  work  of  a  laboratory 
over  a  considerable  period. 

In  most  industrial  laboratories  it  is  necessary  to  con- 
sider the  financial  aspect  of  the  matter  when  under- 
taking any  new  piece  of  research  work.  An  estimate 
of  the  cost  of  a  new  investigation  is  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  prepare,  and  can  be  based  only  on  careful  and 
accurate  costs  which  have  been  kept  previously  for 
work  of  a  similar  kind. 

A  satisfactory  cost  accounting  system  is  extremely 
valuable  in  a  laboratory,  both  for  the  control  of  current 
expenditure  and  for  the  preparation  of  the  budget. 
The  cost  accounting  methods  employed  for  the  control 
of  manufacturing  processes  are  not  suitable  as  a  rule 
for  experimental  work,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  better  to 
develop  an  accounting  system  in  the  laboratory  itself 
rather  than  to  obtain  the  costs  by  the  general  cost 
accounting  methods  used  in  the  Works.  A  laboratory 
cost  accounting  system  need  not  be  expensive  in  op- 
eration nor  need  it  involve  a  hampering  amount  of 
red  tape,  and  if  properly  directed  it  can  relieve  those 
in  charge  of  the  laboratory  from  some  of  the  burden 
of  supervision.  It  should  be  in  charge  of  an  official 
whose  qualifications  are  a  fan-  knowledge  of  scientific 
work,  a  liking  for  detail  and  accuracy,  and  a  capacity 
to  get  on  with  men. 

To  each  problem  which  presents  itself  for  study 
a  number  should  be  given  and  an  assignment  card 
made  out  in  triplicate  on  a  form  similar  to  that  shown 
in  Fig.  8,  one  copy  being  retained  in  the  office,  one  by 


128 


INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 


the  head  of  the  division  to  which  the  problem  is 
assigned,  and  one  by  the  man  to  whom  the  work  goes. 
When  an  answer  is  required  by  a  specific  date,  this 


1 

Problem 
No. 

Problem 

8    9   10  11  12  18  14  16  10  17  18  19  20  21  22  28  24  26  20  S7  28  2«  80  81 

?       34       56789     10    11     12 

ASSIGNMENT  CARD 

Ref. 

Referred  by                   Rec'd 

jDept. 

Assigned  to 

1  Individual                       No. 

Promised 

Remarks 

£  P  9182* 

FIG.  8. 


DAILY  REPORT 

DAV                                            MO. 

PROBLEM 

1             2 

TIME 

NAME 

NO. 

(Kindly  fill  oat  this  card  each  day  before  leaving) 

FIG.  9. 


date  is  noted  on  the  assignment  card  and  followed  up 
by  a  tickler  system.  A  number  is  assigned  to  each 
man  in  the  laboratory,  and  he  returns  a  daily  report, 
a  form  for  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  9,  giving  the  num- 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  129 

bers  of  the  problems  on  which  work  has  been  done  dur- 
ing the  day  and  the  time  spent  on  each.  These  tune 
reports  are  transposed  into  cost  charges  in  the  office, 
and  the  work  done  on  each  problem  as  well  as  all 
special  apparatus  and  materials  purchased  specially 
for  its  work  are  charged  daily  to  the  account  of  that 
problem.  For  each  hour  of  work  an  overhead  charge 
is  added  representing  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  the 
laboratory  as  a  whole  and  the  charges  for  administra- 
tion and  superintendence.  The  amount  of  overhead 
will  vary  very  much  according  to  the  work  done  hi 
the  laboratory;  in  an  analytical  laboratory  it  may  be 
as  low  as  100%,  in  a  laboratory  engaged  in  pure  re- 
search it  may  reach  twice  that  figure.  In  each  divi- 
sion, the  time  of  certain  assistants  and  of  the  division 
chief  when  he  is  not  engaged  on  special  problems,  is 
charged  to  the  divisional  overhead  and  distributed  as  a 
burden  on  all  the  problems  handled  by  that  division. 
From  the  problem  cost  reports  a  periodical  state- 
ment is  prepared  showing  the  progress  of  each  problem 
and  its  cost  up  to  date,  and  the  totals  of  this  state- 
ment should  balance  the  bookkeeping  costs  of  the 
laboratory  as  a  whole.  In  the  case  of  commercial 
consulting  laboratories  and  of  those  industrial  labora- 
tories which  charge  their  work  to  the  departments 
making  use  of  it,  the  costs  obtained  in  this  way  are 
made  the  basis  for  charges,  and  in  a  consulting  labora- 
tory making  profits  the  profit  or  loss  resulting  from 
each  man's  work  should  be  charged  to  a  private 
account  from  which  his  value  for  the  purpose  of  that 
laboratory  may  be  gauged. 1 

1 1  owe  the  arrangement  of  this  account  system  to  Mr.  Caswell, 
Treasurer  of  Arthur  D.  Little,  Incorporated,  of  Cambridge,  who  has 
worked  out  a  complete  accounting  system  for  his  own  firm  and  very 
kindly  placed  all  his  material  at  my  disposal.  See  also  Jour.  Ind.  & 
Eng.  Chem.,  1920,  vol.  xii,  p.  79. 
9 


130  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

The  problems  which  are  investigated  in  a  research 
laboratory  may  arise  from  many  different  sources. 
In  an  industrial  laboratory  of  the  divergent  type  the 
problems  will  be  suggested  largely  from  the  works  and 
arise  out  of  difficulties  occurring  in  the  works  processes 
or  from  the  need  for  improved  materials  or  methods. 
In  a  convergent  laboratory  the  problems  usually 
evolve  from  each  other,  so  that  each  completed  investi- 
gation will  suggest  a  number  of  problems  requiring 
further  investigation,  the  whole  growing  as  a  tree 
grows,  and  never  attaining  to  completion. 

In  divergent  laboratories  devoted  to  pure  science, 
such  as  those  of  the  universities,  there  is  sometimes 
difficulty  in  finding  problems,  but  these  are  the  only 
type  of  laboratories  in  which  such  a  difficulty  occurs. 
The  difficulty  is  not  really  that  of  finding  problems 
per  se  but  of  finding  problems  which  are  suitable 
for  the  particular  circumstances  of  the  laboratory. 
Thus,  problems  involving  very  long  continued  effort 
or  elaborate  apparatus  must  usually  be  rejected  in  a 
university  laboratory,  and,  if  the  work  is  to  be  done 
by  students,  it  is  necessary  to  choose  problems  which 
present  a  reasonable  certainty  of  some  definite,  con- 
crete result  which  can  be  published  at  the  close  of  the 
time  which  the  student  has  available  for  the  research ; 
nothing  is  more  discouraging  to  a  beginner  than  to 
have  assigned  to  him  a  research  which  could  not 
possibly  attain  to  any  completion  in  the  period  which  he 
can  devote  to  it.  Strictly  speaking,  however,  investi- 
gation of  this  type  is  undertaken  not  so  much  for  the 
purpose  of  enlarging  knowledge  as  for  training,  and 
it  may  generally  be  assumed  that  in  research  labora- 
tories dedicated  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  131 

no  shortage  of  problems  will  present  itself,  and  the 
difficulty  will  be  the  choice  of  the  problems  which 
hold  the  richest  promise. 

In  a  convergent  laboratory  there  is  always  a  temp- 
tation to  stray  from  the  field  covered  by  the  laboratory. 
The  men  working  in  such  a  laboratory  will  often  be 
intensely  interested  hi  the  whole  of  the  science  with 
which  they  are  associated,  and  will  have  original  ideas 
of  considerable  value  which  they  will  naturally  wish 
to  test  experimentally  but  which  have  no  direct  re- 
lation to  the  general  work  of  the  laboratory.  As 
a  rule,  it  is  necessary  to  resist  this  tendency,  and  if  a 
man  is  very  anxious  to  undertake  work  which  cannot 
be  seen  to  have  any  relation  to  the  work  of  the  labora- 
tory, he  should  be  advised  to  obtain  a  position  in  a 
laboratory  where  his  work  will  be  in  keeping  with 
other  work  done  in  the  place.  It  is  necessary,  however, 
to  be  very  cautious  in  deciding  on  this  ground  that 
any  piece  of  work  should  not  be  done  and,  espe- 
cially, problems  should  not  be  rejected  on  the  ground 
that  they  are  too  theoretical,  provided  that  the  theory 
is  of  direct  importance  in  connection  with  the  mam 
lines  of  work  carried  on  in  the  laboratory.  As  a 
general  rule,  it  is  better  to  err  on  the  side  of  too  much 
theoretical  work  than  to  run  the  risk  of  doing  super- 
ficial work  and  missing  the  main  points  which  would 
have  given  really  valuable  results. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  research  which  strikes  deep 
enough  in  its  direction  will  have  to  be  abandoned 
because  there  is  no  hope  of  making  it  successful,  and 
very  often  a  research  undertaken  to  attain  a  certain 
practical  result  may  fail  to  achieve  that  result 
and  yet  be  of  value,  provided  that  its  direction  is 


132  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

turned  toward  the  theoretical  considerations  under- 
lying the  work;  whereas,  if  the  research  had  been 
confined  to  the  practical  aspects  of  the  matter,  the 
work  done  would  have  been  lost  when  the  practical 
end  sought  could  not  be  attained. 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  major  investigations 
undertaken  will  be  finally  successful  in  achieving  any 
end  which  could  be  foreseen  when  they  were  started. 
The  proportion  of  researches  which  are  termed 
successful  seems  to  vary  very  greatly  in  different 
laboratories,  but  the  difference  is  probably  more  in 
the  judgment  of  the  director  as  to  what  is  meant  by 
success  and  in  the  object  with  which  the  work  was 
started  than  in  any  real  difference  in  skill  shown  in  the 
selection  of  the  work.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted, 
however,  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  all  the 
work  undertaken  in  any  research  laboratory  will 
eventually  not  be  considered  to  be  worth  the  time 
which  has  been  expended  upon  it,  and  it  is  possible 
that  a  gain  in  efficiency  in  research  could  be  obtained 
by  a  study  of  the  methods  of  selection  of  the  work 
carried  on.  Most  investigators  at  present  feel  that 
this  is  largely  a  gamble  and  that  no  decision  of  real 
value  can  be  made.  It  is  certain  that  many  of  the 
most  valuable  discoveries  in  both  pure  and  applied 
science  could  not  have  been  foreseen  as  possibilities 
when  the  investigations  from  which  they  resulted 
were  undertaken.  But,  nevertheless,  it  is  possible 
that  a  further  study  of  this  subject  would  enable  a 
better  decision  to  be  reached  as  to  the  work  which 
should  be  undertaken. 

When  a  problem  is  presented,  the  first  thing  to  do,  of 
course,  is  to  make  a  preliminary  examination  of  the 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  133 

question,  looking  up  the  literature  and  studying  the 
matter  from  various  angles  in  order  to  decide  as  to  the 
end  to  be  sought,  the  apparatus  which  should  be  de- 
signed and  built,  and  the  method  of  the  research.  This 
is  very  frequently  done  with  insufficient  care,  and 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  great  deal  of  laboratory 
work  to  be  done  which  could  have  been  avoided  if  a 
proper  study  of  the  literature  had  been  made. 

Research  men  differ  very  much  hi  their  attitude 
toward  published  literature.  Some  rarely  make  any 
reference  to  what  has  previously  been  written  other 
than  a  glance  at  a  text  book  or  dictionary,  while  other 
men  have  a  profound  knowledge  of  scientific  literature 
and  always  study  the  whole  subject  carefully  before 
starting  work.  Men  of  the  latter  type  are,  of  course, 
most  valuable,  and  should  not  only  be  encouraged, 
but  should  be  used  for  the  assistance  of  their  less 
industrious  fellows. 

There  is  sometimes  a  tendency  in  laboratories  to 
feel  that  a  man  who  spends  a  considerable  amount  of 
his  time  in  the  library  is  idling,  whereas  the  reverse  is 
generally  the  case,  and  as  Dr.  Whitney  says,  "The 
most  useful  and  fertile  investigators  use  the  library 
the  most."  It  would  probably  be  a  good  rule  in  a 
laboratory  to  have  each  man  who  is  preparing  to  under- 
take a  new  piece  of  work  submit  a  report  on  his  pro- 
posals and  on  what  can  be  found  on  the  subject  hi  the 
literature  before  he  actually  starts  experimental  work, 
but  men  are  of  such  different  types  that  this  might 
discourage  some  men  from  trying  out  ideas  which,  if 
they  had  been  able  to  start  directly  in  experimental 
work,  might  give  results  of  value. 

Almost  as  difficult  a  point  as  the  question  of  starting 


134  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

a  piece  of  work  is  that  of  stopping  it.  Probably,  the 
tendency  is  to  continue  work  too  long  after  it  should 
have  become  clear  that  it  is  not  likely  to  prove  suffi- 
ciently valuable  to  be  worth  the  time  spent  upon  it, 
but  again  the  history  of  science  is  full  of  examples  of 
discouraging  and  unsatisfactory  work  which,  per- 
severed in,  finally  proved  successful.  A  piece  of  work 
which  has  been  commenced  and  is  abandoned  without 
result  represents  practically  a  dead  loss,  and  the  ques- 
tion is  continually  arising  as  to  whether  it  is  better  to 
cut  the  loss  and  start  a  new  piece  of  work,  or  to  con- 
tinue in  the  hope  of  retrieving  an  apparent  failure. 
Each  case,  of  course,  must  be  decided  on  its  merits, 
but  it  is  important  not  to  let  any  question  of  sentiment 
intervene;  that  is,  the  individual  worker  must  not  be 
allowed  to  feel  that  it  is  a  reflection  on  him  if  a  piece 
of  work  which  he  has  been  doing  has  to  be  abandoned ; 
otherwise,  he  will  certainly  strive  to  continue  work 
after  it  should  have  been  given  up.  It  is  rare  for  a 
man  to  be  really  responsible  for  a  failure;  it  is  more 
often  merely  that  a  bad  selection  of  the  problem  was 
made,  in  which  selection  the  worker  himself  may  have 
had  a  very  small  part.  As  far  as  possible,  men  should  be 
encouraged  to  look  at  then*  problems  objectively,  and 
themselves  to  recommend  abandonment  of  work  which 
they  do  not  believe  they  can  bring  to  a  successful 
conclusion,  without  feeling  that  it  is  a  personal  reflec- 
tion on  them  to  drop  a  given  problem. 

When  a  piece  of  work  is  finished,  a  report  should  be 
written  including  a  statement  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  work  has  been  carried  to  a  successful  conclusion 
so  that  the  information  will  be  available  in  case  the 
matter  comes  up  again. 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  135 

The  form  in  which  the  work  on  a  given  problem  is 
reported  will  depend  upon  the  nature  of  the  problem 
and  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  undertaken.  The 
following  classification  of  the  written  products  of 
industrial  research  is  due  to  Dr.  Nutting.1 

1 .  Full  reports  on  each  piece  of  work  undertaken  in 
the  nature  of  digests  of  notes  and  data  taken  during 
the  work. 

2.  Scientific  papers  to  be  read  before  societies  and 
published  in  journals. 

3.  Minor  technical  reports,  usually  in  the  form  of 
letters  in  response  to  inquiries  or  of  reports  on  tests. 

4.  Technical  recommendations  as  to  modifications 
in  works  processes,  development  of  new  processes  or 
products. 

5.  Patent  suggestions  covering  new  methods,  proc- 
esses or  products. 

In  order  that  the  work  of  a  research  laboratory  may 
be  utilized  in  the  best  manner  it  must  be  made  accessi- 
ble to  all  departments  of  the  industry,  and  the  results 
obtained  must  therefore  be  presented  in  a  form  in 
which  they  can  be  understood  and  used  by  those  for 
whom  they  are  intended.  For  this  reason  instruc- 
tions governing  the  drafting  of  reports  should  be  issued. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  a  report  is  to  be  a  per- 
manent record  which  will  be  read  by  those  who  may 
not  be  experienced  in  the  special  subject  with  which  the 
report  deals.  A  report  should  be  capable  of  being  un- 
derstood not  only  at  the  time  when  it  is  written  and  in 
the  factory  where  it  is  written  but  by  a  reader  twenty 
years  hence  who  has  never  seen  the  factory.  Terms 
which  have  a  local  application  should  be  avoided,  and 

1  Private  Communication. 


136  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

as  the  work  recorded  may  have  to  be  repeated  at 
some  future  date,  all  essential  data  should  be  given 
in  sufficient  detail  to  render  such  repetition  possible. 
The  following  instructions  for  drawing  up  reports  are 
given  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  William  Rintoul, 
manager  of  the  research  section  of  Nobel's  Explosives 
Company. 

1.  The  report  must  be  impersonal  except  in  the  case 
of  reports  on  visits,  which  may  be  written  in  the  first 
person. 

2.  The  official  nomenclature  of  the  laboratory  is  to  be 
employed  in  describing  materials. 

3.  No  contractions  except  those  which  would  be 
recognized  by  all  readers  are  to  be  employed.     Any 
other  unavoidable  contraction  is  to  be  explained  in  a 
footnote. 

4.  Each  report  should  as  a  rule  consist  of  three 
parts:  a  description  of  the  experimental  work  carried 
out,  summary  and  conclusions.     The  summary  should 
state  concisely  the  nature,  scope  and  results  of  the 
experiments.     It  should  summarize  the  whole  of  that 
part  of  the  report  which  precedes  it  and  not  deal 
merely  with  the  results  obtained.     It  should  be  quite 
understandable  by  one  who  has  not  read  any  other 
part  of   the  report,  except  perhaps  the  title  page. 
The  conclusion  should  be  written  as  if  the  author 
were  answering  the  question  implied  in  the  definition 
of  the  object  of  the  program.     If  further  work  is 
necessary  before  anything  definite  can  be  stated,  the 
conclusion  should  contain  a  suggestion  for  this  further 
work. 

The  title  of  the  report  should  be  carefully  selected 
to  give  the  reader  as  much  information  about  the 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  137 

report  in  as  few  words  as  possible.  A  title  such  as 
" Report  on  Program  B.  D.  No.  6"  is  not  permissible; 
neither  is  such  a  title  as  "  Report  on  Lenses  submitted 
by  Mr.  Smith/'  If  a  general  title  is  given,  the  report 
must  be  a  general  report.  A  title  such  as  "On  the 
Determination  of  Nitrogen"  would  not  be  suitable 
for  anything  less  than  a  monograph.  If  the  subject 
were  an  examination  of  the  suitability  of  the  Kjeldahl 
method  for  a  particular  purpose,  the  title  should  read 
"Report  on  the  Use  of  the  Kjeldahl  method  for  the 
Determination  of  Nitrogen  in " 

Headings  should  be  used  in  order  to  facilitate  refer- 
ence. They  must  not  be  inserted  haphazardly  but 
be  co-ordinate  and  logical.  It  must  not  be  assumed 
that  the  reader  reads  all  the  headings,  and  the  headings 
must  therefore  be  repeated  in  the  text. 

When  tables  are  given  they  should  be,  as  far 
as  possible,  self-explanatory.  Enough  information 
should  be  given  in  the  headings  to  make  the  table 
understandable  without  too  close  an  examination  of 
the  text.  Chemical  formulae  should  not  be  used  in 
the  text  of  the  report  in  the  place  of  names  of  materials; 
they  may  be  employed  in  tables. 

These  instructions  may  seem  to  be  too  detailed, 
but  such  detailed  instructions  have  a  very  beneficial 
effect  upon  the  type  of  the  reports;  since  after  two  or 
three  reports  have  been  submitted  by  a  worker  and 
departures  from  the  regulations  have  been  pointed 
out  to  him,  the  improvement  in  manuscript  submitted 
is  very  marked.  In  every  laboratory  there  should  be 
somebody  whose  business  it  is  to  deal  with  literary 
matter,  and  in  a  large  laboratory  one  or  more  qualified 
persons  may  be  appointed  as  editors,  their  whole 


138  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

time  being  occupied  with  the  form  of  reports  and  of 
matter  for  publication. 

It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  prevent  work  which  has 
a  real  bearing  on  practical  questions  being  ignored 
by  the  practical  man  to  whom  it  should  be  of  value. 
The  mere  filing  of  a  report  is  not  always  sufficient, 
and  some  method  of  following  up  the  application  of 
the  work  is  desirable. 

In  some  firms  all  the  reports  from  the  laboratory 
go  to  the  management,  which  notes  on  them  directions 
for  applying  the  results  and  returns  the  annotated 
report  to  the  laboratory.  The  director  reports  as 
to  the  steps  taken  to  carry  out  the  directions,  and 
finally  returns  the  report  to  the  management  for 
filing  with  a  statement  as  to  what  has  been  done. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  men  engaged  in  techni- 
cal industry  are  anxious  to  make  use  of  the  facilities  for 
obtaining  information  which  are  available  and  that  a 
library  will  therefore  be  fully  utilized  if  it  is  available. 
This  is  quite  incorrect;  as  a  rule  technical  men  are 
very  much  occupied  with  their  own  work  and  find  it 
difficult  for  lack  of  time  to  follow  technical  literature 
or  even  to  look  into  the  possibility  of  obtaining 
information  on  subjects  in  which  they  are  interested, 
It  is,  consequently,  very  desirable  for  the  laboratory 
to  make  a  practice  of  abstracting  the  technical  litera- 
ture of  interest  to  all  departments  of  the  company, 
and  circulating  these  abstracts  so  that  those  likely 
to  concern  the  technical  men  will  be  brought  to  their 
attention. 

There  is  some  doubt  as  to  how  such  work  should  be 
done.  It  is  often  suggested  that  the  abstracts  should 
be  made  by  one  man  connected  with  the  library,  but 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  139 

it  seems  to  be  very  doubtful  whether  a  man  can  generally 
be  found  with  sufficient  knowledge  of  what  is  required 
by  all  the  different  workers  to  prepare  satisfactory 
abstracts.  It  is  probably  better  to  arrange  for  the 
men  working  in  the  laboratory  to  prepare  abstracts 
dealing  with  their  own  special  section  of  science. 
This  really  does  not  involve  any  hardship,  since  each 
man  should  certainly  read  the  journals  with  which  he 
is  specially  concerned,  and  any  papers  which  are  of 
sufficient  value  to  be  worth  abstracting  are  worth 
the  time  which  he  will  have  to  spend  to  make  the 
abstract. 

Abstracts  of  patents  are  perhaps  best  made  by  the 
patent  department,  if  there  is  such  an  institution  in 
connection  with  the  company,  but  some  means  should 
be  taken  of  making  certain  that  every  one  who  is 
really  interested  in  patents  has  them  definitely  called 
to  his  attention.  In  addition  to  its  use  for  the  techin- 
cal  men  of  the  organization  outside  the  laboratory, 
a  proper  indexing  system  will  make  such  abstracts  of 
great  value  to  the  laboratory  itself. 

In  this  connection,  an  experiment  has  been  made 
for  the  last  five  years  at  the  laboratory  of  the  East- 
man Kodak  Company  which  has  proved  successful, 
and  which  seems  to  be  worth  trying  on  a  larger  scale. 
The  laboratory  publishes  each  month,  for  the  use  of 
the  employees  of  the  company,  an  abstract  bulletin 
of  the  photographic  journals,  including  also  such  ab- 
stracts from  other  scientific  journals  as  have  any  rela- 
tion to  photographic  problems  or  manufacture,  the 
abstracts  being  made  by  the  laboratory  staff,  and  each 
abstract  being  given  a  reference  number.  These  num- 
bers refer  to  a  numerical  classification  of  photography 


140  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

based  somewhat  on  a  decimal  system,  but  adapted 
to  the  special  needs  of  the  subject.  Each  month  as  the 
bulletin  is  issued  the  abstracts  are  clipped  out,  pasted 
on  cards,  and  filed  under  the  numbers  printed  on 
them  in  numerical  order,  so  that  each  recipient  of  the 
bulletin  can  prepare  for  himself  a  file,  either  of  all 
photographic  literature,  or  of  any  portion  of  it  with 
which  he  may  be  specially  concerned.  For  example, 
in  the  classification,  abstracts  dealing  with  photo- 
graphic apparatus  commence  with  the  number  "2, " 
and  if  a  particular  worker  is  interested  only  in  appa- 
ratus— not  in  materials,  photographic  processes,  or  in 
applications  of  photography — he  need  file  only  the 
cards  starting  with  2,  while,  if  his  interests  are  even 
more  limited — if,  for  instance,  they  are  confined  to 
photographic  shutters — he  can  file  the  cards  starting 
with  "262,"  thus  obtaining  only  a  very  limited  file 
which  is,  however,  complete  for  that  particular  sub- 
ject in  which  his  interest  lies. 

If  the  scientific  abstract  journals  would  use  a  simi- 
lar system,  adopting  as  their  basis  either  the  numeri- 
cal classifications  of  the  International  Catalogue  of 
Scientific  Literature  which  have  proved  themselves 
satisfactory  or  some  different  classification  adopted 
after  due  consideration,  then  each  recipient  of  the 
abstract  journals  could  prepare  for  himself  card  index 
files  of  the  scientific  literature  in  which  he  is  interested. 

To  prepare  a  card  index  of  all  science  or  even  a 
complete  index  of  one  large  branch  of  science  in  this 
way,  would,  however,  be  too  formidable  an  under- 
taking either  for  an  individual  or  even  for  a  small 
library,  but  it  should  certainly  be  possible  for  large 
libraries,  such  as  those  of  the  scientific  societies  or  of 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK  141 

large  cities,  to  keep  such  numerically  indexed  files  to 
which  reference  could  be  made  by  correspondence 
from  any  research  worker.1  Thus,  adopting  the  clas- 
sification of  the  International  Catalogue,  a  worker 
who  became  interested  in  questions,  e.g.,  of  catalysis, 
could  apply  for  a  copy  of  the  reference  cards  on  this 
subject,  which  would  include  all  those  indexed  under 
7065,  and  could  be  supplied  with  a  complete  file  or 
with  a  partial  file  covering  any  period  of  tune;  the 
copies  could  easily  be  made  by  photographing  the 
cards  with  such  a  camera  as  the  "Photostat." 

All  scientific  work,  including  that  which  arises  in 
the  course  of  an  investigation  undertaken  to  obtain  a 
practical  result,  should  be  published  in  the  form  of 
technical  or  scientific  papers.  With  some  laboratories 
publication  is  rendered  difficult  by  the  industrial  or- 
ganization. While  nominally  manufacturing  com- 
panies are  usually  willing  that  results  of  scientific 
interest  should  be  published,  the  organization  of  the 
company  frequently  requires  that  they  be  passed  on 
by  the  heads  of  several  departments,  such  as  the  Sales, 
Patent,  Advertising,  Manufacturing,  and  so  on,  and 
the  heads  of  these  departments,  possibly  not  under- 
standing the  subject  and  being  afraid  of  passing 
material  which  might  prove  detrimental,  frequently 
err  in  the  direction  of  withholding  entirely  harmless 
information.  It  is  much  more  satisfactory,  if  possible, 
for  one  responsible  executive  to  pass  on  all  matter 
submitted  for  publication,  and  this  will  inevitably 

1  On  the  subject  v.  K.  C.  WALKER  and  A.  D.  FLINN,  Development 
of  Existing  Agencies  for  Co-operation  in  Industrial  Research,  Proc. 
Amer.  Soc.  Test.  Mat.,  v.  xviii,  Part  II,  1918,  p.  1.  Also,  A.  M. 
PATTERSON,  Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1919,  p.  487. 


142  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

result  in  a  much  more  liberal  policy  than  where  the 
responsibility  is  delegated  to  a  number  of  representa- 
tives of  different  departments  of  the  company. 

The  importance  of  free  publication  of  scientific 
work  for  the  maintenance  of  morale  in  the  staff  has 
already  been  referred  to,1  but  such  publication  also 
has  a  value  for  the  laboratory  as  a  whole;  it  gives  a 
corporate  spirit  and  a  sense  of  individuality  which 
can  be  obtained  in  no  other  way. 

It  is  most  unfortunate  that  the  regulations  for  the 
organization  of  research  associations  in  Great  Britain 
lay  much  stress  on  secrecy.  Secrecy  is  very  antagon- 
istic to  the  scientific  spirit  and  is  fatal  to  co-operation; 
in  a  laboratory  where  secrecy  is  strongly  emphasized 
there  is  an  atmosphere  of  restraint  and  suspicion 
which  is  very  undesirable.  While  some  industrial 
secrets  must  necessarily  be  kept  very  strictly  inside 
the  organization,  it  is  generally  best  to  confine  the 
knowledge  of  such  secret  methods  and  processes  to 
very  few  people  and  to  allow  the  rest  of  the  laboratory 
to  work  frankly  and  with  the  minimum  restrictions 
as  to  discussion  and  intercourse. 

The  practice  of  different  laboratories  in  the  method 
of  publication  of  their  results  varies  considerably. 
A  number  of  laboratories  publish  their  own  bulletins, 
either  as  separate  papers  or  as  periodical  volumes. 
Others  publish  in  the  scientific  and  technical  press, 
either  in  one  or  two  journals  or  in  a  number  of  differ- 
ent journals,  according  to  the  subjects  dealt  with. 

Naturally,  the  best  method  of  publication  will  de- 
pend to  some  extent  on  the  nature  of  the  work  pub- 
lished and  the  character  of  the  laboratory.  In  the 
case  of  a  purely  technical  laboratory  publishing  a 

1  v.  Chapter  VI,  p.  100. 


THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WORK 


1*3 


large  number  of  papers  on  one  special  technical  sub- 
ject, the  method  of  publishing  separate  bulletins, 
mailed  directly  to  a  selected  list  of  those  interested, 
may  be  quite  satisfactory,  but  if  the  publications  of  a 
laboratory  cover  a  large  range  of  subjects  it  would 
seem  to  be  preferable  to  publish  each  paper  in  the 
journal  which  deals  with  the  department  of  science 
most  akin  to  that  of  the  subject.  If  this  is  not  done, 
there  is  grave  danger  that  the  paper  may  be  missed 
by  the  abstract  journals  and  be  overlooked  altogether, 
while  in  any  case  the  publication  of  single  bulletins 
increases  the  burden  of  any  investigator  engaged  in 
compiling  a  bibliography  of  a  subject. 

In  the  laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company 
it  has  been  the  custom  to  confine  the  publication  of 
scientific  comunications  to  the  recognized  technical 
and  scientific  journals,  and  the  first  fifty  communica- 
tions were  published  in  no  less  than  seventeen  different 
journals,  twenty-nine  being  published  in  journals 
relating  to  some  branch  of  physics,  five  in  chemical 
journals,  and  seventeen  in  photographic  publications. 
Since  all  the  papers  issued  from  one  laboratory  have 
a  common  interest,  and  it  is  therefore  an  advantage 
to  have  them  available  in  some  collected  form,  this 
laboratory  periodically  publishes  bulletins  containing 
abridgments  of  all  its  scientific  papers. 

In  addition  to  the  publication  of  papers,  the  workers 
in  a  research  laboratory  should  certainly  be  encouraged 
to  summarize  in  the  form  of  books  the  work  that  they 
have  done  over  considerable  periods  of  time.  The 
most  valuable  books  are  those  written  by  actual  work- 
ers, and,  although  it  is  difficult  to  persuade  a  man 
engaged  in  practical  research  work  to  write  a  book 
on  his  work,  it  is  nevertheless  well  worth  the  tune 


144  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

spent  on  the  task  if  a  good  account  of  the  whole  of  the 
work  can  be  obtained  written  by  the  man  most  con- 
cerned in  it,  and  the  director  of  a  research  laboratory 
should  certainly  encourage  the  preparation  of  books 
dealing  with  the  subjects  on  which  research  is  going 
forward  in  the  laboratory. 

If  a  sufficient  amount  of  material  is  available,  publi- 
cation can  be  greatly  encouraged  by  the  employment 
of  a  special  member  of  the  staff  to  whom  is  assigned 
the  sole  duty  of  preparing  papers  and  monographs  for 
publication.  Such  an  editor  can  do  bibliographical 
research,  obtain  and  check  references,  write  historical 
and  introductory  sections,  and  generally  lighten  very 
greatly  for  the  scientific  men  the  labor  of  writing. 
Under  such  conditions  men,  who  would  otherwise  never 
be  willing  to  face  the  task,  can  often  be  encouraged  to 
write  papers  and  books. 

In  addition  to  scientific  papers,  special  technical 
reports  for  the  information  of  the  staff  of  the  company 
itself  should  be  circulated  by  the  laboratory,  and  when 
a  laboratory  publishes  an  abstract  bulletin,  these  tech- 
nical reports  can  be  conveniently  incorporated  in  the 
bulletin.  It  is  often  advisable  also  to  prepare  special 
bulletins  dealing  with  the  application  of  published 
scientific  investigations  to  the  special  needs  and  inter- 
ests of  the  company.  The  director  of  the  laboratory 
will  use  these  reports  and  also  the  minutes  of  the 
conferences  in  making  up  his  periodical  reports  to  the 
authorities  to  whom  he  is  responsible.  In  the  case  of 
an  industrial  laboratory  it  is  convenient  to  make  these 
summarized  reports  every  month,  and  from  the 
monthly  reports,  the  published  papers,  and  the  report 
files  an  annual  report  dealing  with  the  work  of  the 
laboratory  during  the  year  can  be  prepared. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY 
FOR  A  SPECIFIC  INDUSTRY 

The  principles  dealing  with  the  various  aspects  of 
scientific  research  which  have  been  discussed  in  this 
book  may  be  applied  directly  to  the  design  of  a  re- 
search laboratory  for  a  specific  purpose,  and  it  is 
proposed  in  this  chapter  to  attempt  to  outline  some 
typical  laboratories  as  a  guide  to  the  directorate  of 
any  firm  contemplating  the  establishment  of  a  research 
department. 

Since  the  financial  aspect  of  the  matter  will  natu- 
rally govern  the  scale  on  which  a  laboratory  is  estab- 
lished, it  is  necessary  first  to  consider  the  cost  of 
laboratories  in  order  to  ascertain  how  large  a  labora- 
tory a  given  sum  will  support. 

From  various  sources,  but  chiefly  from  the  conve- 
nient list  of  American  laboratories  given  by  Mr.  Flem- 
ing, there  can  be  obtained  the  cost  of  a  research 
laboratory  per  scientific  worker  employed.  It  might 
seem  that  there  would  be  very  great  variations  in  this, 
but,  provided  that  the  laboratories  are  all  of  the  phys- 
ical and  chemical  type,  there  is  a  surprising  agreement 
between  the  figures,  which  show  that  the  cost  of  build- 
ing and  equipment  for  a  laboratory  in  1916  was  be- 
tween $3,000  and  $4,000  per  man.  In  the  whole  list, 
the  only  one  which  is  appreciably  below  this  is  a 
laboratory  which  is  used  almost  entirely  for  testing 

10  145 


146  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

and  apparently  largely  for  chemical  testing,  and  in 
such  a  laboratory  the  cost  of  apparatus  is  naturally 
low,  since  routine  analyses  do  not  involve  very  much 
apparatus.  It  may  be  taken,  therefore,  that  the  first 
cost  of  a  laboratory  will  be  approximately  $3,500  per 
scientific  worker  employed.  From  the  same  sources 
the  annual  cost  of  maintenance  of  such  a  research 
laboratory  appears  to  be  slightly  lower  than  the  first 
cost.  Probably  $3,300  per  man  would  be  a  fair  esti- 
mate of  the  cost  of  maintenance,  and  of  this  we  may 
take  60  per  cent,  as  representing  salaries  and  wages 
and  the  remainder  all  other  expenses. 

In  his  recent  paper  on  "  Planning  A  Works  Research 
Organization"1  Fleming  gives  a  careful  analysis  of 
costs  for  buildings  and  equipment  with  an  estimate  of 
running  costs.  These  are  prewar  figures  for  Great 
Britain  and  are  lower  than  the  estimates  given  above. 

According  to  Bacon,2  $1500  per  year  is  the  amount 
necessary  to  obtain  first-class  graduates,  $1800  per 
year  for  men  with  experience  in  research.  An  in- 
dustrial laboratory  will  take  a  number  of  its  men 
without  research  experience,  starting  them  as  low  as 
$1200  per  year,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  chiefs 
of  departments  will  require  about  $3000  per  year  at 
the  start. 

Owing  to  the  rapid  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  the 
above  figures  are  certainly  too  low  and  probably 
should  be  increased  by  50  per  cent,  at  the  present 
time  (1919). 

In  Great  Britain  salaries  are  somewhat  lower  than 

1  Jour.  Inst.  Elect.  Engineers,  1919,  p.  153. 

2  Some   principles  in  the  Administration  of  Industrial,  ^Research 
Laboratories,  by  RAYMOND  F,  BACON,  J.  S.  C.  I.,  1916,  Vol.  xxxv. 


THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY     147 

in  the  United  States,  and  in  order  to  convert  figures 
given  in  this  chapter,  therefore,  $1000  in  the  United 
States  may  be  regarded  as  equivalent  to  about  £150 
in  Great  Britain  when  considering  the  cost  of  research 
work. 

The  laboratories  which  we  are  contemplating  must 
be  prepared  to  act  hi  all  the  capacities  which  we  have 
discussed  hi  previous  chapters,  they  must  be  equipped 
with  libraries  and  with  accommodation  for  small-scale 
industrial  work,  and  their  scientific  equipment  must 
be  entirely  adequate  to  the  work  undertaken. 

That  work  may  be  classified  in  three  divisions: 

A.  Work  undertaken  on  the  initiative  of  manufac- 
turing divisions  for  the  improvement  of  operations, 
for  the  lowering  of  cost,  or  hi  order  to  locate  manufac- 
turing difficulties. 

B.  Work  undertaken  with  a  view  to  the  develop- 
ment of  new  materials  or  of  entirely  new  processes. 
This  mayjbe  initiated  by  the  management,  by  manu- 
facturing sections,  by  sales  divisions  who  see  the  need 
for  such  materials  or  processes,  or  by  the  staff  of  the 
laboratory. 

C.  Work  which  deals  with  the  fundamental  theory 
of  the  subject  the  results  of  which,  if  successful,  will 
lay  a  foundation  for  the  expansion  of  the  industry 
as  a  whole,  along  lines  which  usually  cannot  be  fore- 
seen when  the  research  work  is  commenced. 

In  a  study  of  the  work  of  a  special  research  labora- 
tory all  the  work  done  during  the  year  was  analyzed 
from  a  classification  of  the  work  of  each  part  of  the 
laboratory,  and  the  proportionate  expense  which 
should  be  charged  to  each  class  of  the  work  found. 
This  analysis  showed  that  Division  A,  that  is  work 


148  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

done  for  the  manufacturing  departments,  corresponded 
to  about  20  per  cent,  of  the  work  of  the  laboratory; 
Division  B,  work  on  new  materials,  47  per  cent.; 
Division  C,  or  fundamental  work,  absorbed  27%  per 
cent,  of  which  22%  per  cent,  was  devoted  to  the  scien- 
tific work  and  5  per  cent,  to  the  accompanying  edu- 
cational work;  while  work  for  the  assistance  and 
information  of  the  office  force  was  estimated  at  5% 
per  cent. 

At  the  commencement  of  a  laboratory,  work  belong- 
ing to  Division  A  will  probably  absorb  the  greater 
part  of  its  energies,  but  however  the  work  is  started 
some  apportionment  of  the  time  of  the  laboratory 
among  the  three  divisions  will  eventually  be  made,  in 
which  each  of  them  will  take  its  own  place. 

Let  us  first  consider  a  laboratory  suitable  for  an 
industrial  undertaking  whose  business  consists  in  the 
dyeing  of  textiles.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  industry 
is  making  a  turn-over  of  $1,000,000  a  year,  of  which 
10  per  cent,  or  $100,000,  is  net  profit,  and  that  the 
directors  have  decided  that  in  order  to  improve  their 
product  and  extend  their  business,  possibly  to  diminish 
costs,  they  will  at  the  outset  undertake  an  expenditure 
of  $20,000  a  year  on  scientific  research.  Now,  let  us 
consider  what  they  can  do  for  this. 

In  view  of  the  increased  cost  of  building  due  to  the 
war,  the  building  for  an  expenditure  of  $20,000  a  year 
will  probably  cost  $20,000  and  the  scientific  equip- 
ment $5000,  while  the  small  experimental  plant  can  be 
equipped  partly  from  material  already  available  in  the 
works  and  may  cost  an  additional  $3000.  So  allowing 
$2000  for  library  and  office  and  other  sundry  expend- 
itures we  have  a  capital  expenditure  of  $30,000. 


THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY      149 

Taking  the  basis  of  $4.00  per  square  foot  for  build- 
ing as  a  rough  approximation,  we  shall  have  5000 
square  feet  of  floor  space,  or,  dividing  this  into  three 
floors,  a  building  about  40  feet  square.  In  order  to 
allow  for  expansion  it  would  be  better  to  erect  a 
building  with  a  floor  area  of  5000  square  feet,  say 


FIG.  10. 

50  X  100,  using  the  upper  floors  for  manufacturing 
until  they  are  required  by  the  laboratory,  but  natu- 
rally a  decision  on  this  matter  would  depend  upon 
financial  considerations. 

The  work  of  the  laboratory  may  be  analyzed 
according  to  the  chart  shown  in  Fig.  10.  Dividing 
it  into  the  three  main  divisions  of  chemistry,  physics, 
and  biology,  we  shall  get  the  following  sections  for 
the  work.  In  chemistry  we  shall  require  an  analyst 
and  dye  chemist  who  must  understand  organic  chemis- 


150  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

try,  and  a  colloid  chemist  who  will  study  the  relation 
between  the  fiber  and  the  dyes.  In  physics,  we  shall 
have  work  to  do  on  the  testing  of  the  strength  of 
materials,  and  especially  on  colorimetry  and  the 
measurement  of  absorption.  In  biology,  we  shall 
require  a  man  who  understands  vegetable  and  animal 
fibers,  then:  structure  and  their  bio-chemical  properties. 
We  shall  also  require  an  expert  microscopist  who  will 
understand  the  staining  of  fibers  and  photomicro- 
graphy. This  will  give  us  the  chart  shown  in  Fig. 
10. 

We  cannot  hope,  of  course,  to  represent  all  these 
departments  by  separate  men,  since  the  number  of 
men  will  be  limited  by  the  appropriation  available 
for  the  laboratory.  With  an  appropriation  of  $20,000 
per  annum  a  basis  of  $4000  per  man  should  give 
us  five  men,  but  with  a  small  laboratory  the  cost 
per  man  will  be  somewhat  higher  and  it  will  be  safe 
to  divide  the  $14,000  available  for  salaries,  thus: 

Director  $5000 

Colloid  Chemist  $3500 

Organic  Chemist  $3000 

Physicist  $2500 

The  director  will  be  a  chemist  who  has  had  works 
experience  in  dyeing,  or  who  must  be  given  this  works 
experience  before  the  laboratory  is  commenced  if  a 
fully  trained  scientific  research  man  is  not  avail- 
able from  the  works.  It  is  of  no  use  to  take  a  man 
from  the  works  who  is  not  fully  trained  hi  research 
methods  and  in  sympathy  with  scientific  work.  If 
such  a  man  is  not  already  available  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  dyeing,  then  the  best  available  man  must  be 


THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY     151 

obtained  from  a  university  or  elsewhere  and  given  the 
works  experience  to  learn  dyeing  before  the  construc- 
tion of  the  laboratory  is  attempted.  The  colloid 
chemist  will  be  a  bio-chemist  and  may  be  expected  to 
understand  the  chemistry  and  biology  of  textile  fibres 
and  to  undertake  microscopical  work.  We  may 
expect  our  organic  chemist  to  look  after  analytical 
chemistry  as  well;  that  is,  we  must  get  a  man  having 
experience  in  organic  chemistry  and  with  some  knowl- 
edge of  dyes,  who  can  specialize  in  the  study  of  dye- 
stuffs  and  on  their  analysis,  but  who  also  can  do 
what  routine  analytical  chemistry  it  becomes  essential 
for  the  laboratory  to  carry  out.  We  may  expect 
our  physicist  to  understand  colorimetry,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  know  enough  general  physics  to  be  able 
to  look  after  questions  involving  the  strength  of 
materials. 

We  can  now  consider  the  structure  of  the  laboratory 
itself.  If  we  have  three  floors,  each  of  them  contain- 
ing about  1600  square  feet,  one  will  be  required  for 
the  library,  office  and  the  dye  room,  which  will  be  a 
small  edition  of  a  works  containing  small  model 
machines  in  which  all  the  works  processes  of  dye- 
ing, washing  and  drying  can  be  carried  out.  This 
may  occupy  about  half  the  ground  floor,  the  other 
half  being  taken  up  by  the  library,  staircase  and  the 
laboratory  office,  which  in  such  a  small  laboratory  may 
be  united  with  the  library.  The  next  floor  will  be 
devoted  to  chemistry  and  may  be  divided  into  two 
or  three  rooms,  while  the  top  floor  will  be  used  for 
physics  and  will  contain  rooms  for  ordinary  physical 
work  as  well  as  for  colorimetry  and  probably  for  mi- 
croscopy, since  it  is  inadvisable  to  have  microscopes 


152  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

and  similar  instruments  exposed  to  the  fumes  of  a 
chemical  laboratory. 

A  design  similar  to  this  can  be  made  out  for  any 
other  industry,  the  factor  of  size  being  determined 
by  the  expenditure  which  it  is  proposed  to  make,  and 
the  work  being  distributed  in  accordance  with  the 
demands  of  the  particular  industry  in  question. 

A  study  of  a  laboratory  suitable  for  research  on 
zinc  has  been  made  by  Dr.  John  Johnston.  The  funda- 
mental work  of  this  laboratory  would  deal  with  the 
physical  and  mechanical  properties  of  zinc,  such  as 
the  study  of  its  crystalline  transformations,  the  tem- 
perature of  inversion  and  the  effect  of  impurities  upon 
these  changes.  This  work  would  then  be  extended 
into  a  systematic  study  of  the  zinc  alloys,  first  the 
simpler  ones,  later  the  more  complicated,  through  a 
wide  range  of  conditions,  ascertaining  their  mechani- 
cal properties  and  correlating  them  with  their 
constitution. 

As  a  result  of  this  work  new  uses  or  extensions  of 
existing  uses  for  zinc  might  be  found,  that  which 
appears  most  promising  at  present  being  the  develop- 
ment of  zinc  alloys  with  properties  more  suitable  for 
die  casting,  or  the  production  of  zinc  wire  of  high 
tensile  strength. 

The  laboratory  work  proposed  is  estimated  by  Dr. 
Johnston  to  require  personnel  and  equipment  some- 
what as  follows. 

(A)  A  first-class  physical  chemist,  familiar  with 
the  technique  of  high-temperature  experimental  work 
and  with  the  methods  of  alloy  investigation,  with 
two  assistants. 

The  equipment  needed  would  include  small  electric 


THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY     153 

furnaces  of  various  kinds  with  appropriate  devices 
for  measuring  temperatures;  colorimetric  apparatus; 
an  apparatus  for  determining  density  (including  volume 
change  at  an  inversion  or  on  melting)  and 
vapor  pressure  at  any  temperature,  in  addition  to 
that  ordinarily  found  in  a  physico-chemical  laboratory. 
It  would  probably  also  be  advisable  to  arrange  for 
determination  of  physical  properties  such  as  electrical 
conductivity,  thermo-electric  power,  etc. 

(B)  A  first-class  metallographer,  provided  with  the 
best  land  of  metallographic  outfit,  with  an  assistant. 

(C)  A  man  familiar  with  the  methods  of  testing 
metals  for  tensile  strength,  hardness,  resistance  to 
fatigue,  compressibility  and  other  mechanical  proper- 
ties, with  an  asssistant. 

In  addition  to  the  various  testing  machines  it  would 
be  advisable  to  install  equipment  to  enable  tests  to  be 
made  on  the  properties  of  the  metal  or  alloy  when 
extruded,  on  its  suitability  for  die-casting,  etc.  It 
might  also  be  well  to  have  a  small  experimental  rolling 
mill  with  the  necessary  furnaces  and  equipment. 

(D)  A  first-class  analytical  chemist  who  would  con- 
trol the  chemical  composition  and  purity  of  all  mate- 
rials  used    and    products   investigated,  and    would 
standardize  methods  of  analysis  of  zinc  products, 
with  an  assistant  or  probably  two. 

The  equipment  would  be  that  of  a  first-class  ana- 
lytical laboratory,  including  apparatus  for  electro- 
analysis  and  other  such  methods. 

(E)  A  first-class  mechanic,  with  a  small  well-fitted 
shop,   capable  of  making  and  repairing  apparatus 
in    the    experimental    work,    with    a    helper,    part 
of  whose  duties  would  be  to  look  after  things  generally. 


154  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

On  the  basis  outlined  above,  the  initial  annual  salary 
budget  would  be  about  as  follows: 

Director $10,000 

4  men  (A,  B,  C,  D) 15,000 

6  assistants 12,000 

Mechanics 2,000 

Clerical,  janitor,  etc 4,000 

Total $43,000 

The  necessary  equipment  to  begin  with  would  cost 
$25,000,  but  a  further  sum  of  $25,000  would  need  to 
be  set  aside  for  additions  to  the  equipment  within 
the  first  few  years.  Including  the  necessary  overhead 
and  operation  costs,  this  laboratory  would  thus  cost 
about  $80,000  per  annum  and  a  suitable  building 
would  cost  about  $100,000. 

This  zinc  research  laboratory  may  be  taken  as  typi- 
cal of  laboratories  for  the  metal-producing  trades,  as 
the  one  outlined  for  the  dyeing  of  textiles  is  typical 
for  the  industries  of  a  technical  manufacturing  type 
dealing  with  engineering  processes,  handling  chemi- 
cals, and  also  involving  certain  biological  considera- 
tions, such  as  arise  throughout  the  textile  and  leather 
industries. 

A  scheme  for  the  organization  of  research  and  ana- 
lytical control  in  chemical  manufacturing  has  been 
published  by  Ferguson.1  The  organization  of  the 
analytical  department  in  this  scheme  is  particularly 
interesting,  being  worked  out  for  a  corporation  having 
a  number  of  laboratories  requiring  co-ordination. 

As  laboratories  are  organized  and  experience  gained 
in  the  type  of  laboratory  suitable  for  different  indus- 

1  W.  C.  FERGUSON,  Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  1912,  p.  905. 


THE  DESIGN  OF  A  RESEARCH  LABORATORY      155 

tries,  it  will  doubtless  become  possible  to  lay  out  a 
definite  scheme  of  organization  for  a  laboratory  suitable 
to  the  requirements  of  any  industrial  undertaking. 
At  the  present  tune  it  is  possible  to  do  this  only 
in  the  most  general  way,  and  it  is  very  desirable  that 
those  who  have  experience  in  the  operation  of  research 
laboratories  should  publish  their  conclusions  hi  order 
to  make  them  available  to  those  whose  duty  it  is  to 
organize  new  undertakings. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  organization  of  scientific 
research  will  advance  very  rapidly  during  the  next 
few  years,  and  the  efficiency  of  its  advance  will  depend 
very  much  upon  the  frank  collaboration  of  those  who 
are  engaged  in  direction  of  the  work. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

General  Articles 

G.  BBILBY  (President  of  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.),  The  Relations  of  the 

Society  to    Chemical  Engineering  and  to  Industrial  Research 

Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1899,  v.  18,  pp.  333,  437. 
W.  FREW,  The  Endowment  of  Technical  Research:  An  Object  Lesson. 

Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1901,  v.  20,  p.  219. 
R.  MELDOLA,  Education  and  Research  in  Applied  Chemistry.     Jour. 

Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1909,  v.  28,  No.  11,  p.  554. 
SIR  J.  J.  THOMSON,  Influence  of  Pure  Science  in  Engineering.     Jour. 

Soc.  Elec.  Eng.,  London,  Nov.  25,  1910,  v.  46,  p.  584. 
W.  R.  WHITNEY  (Director  Research  Laboratory,  General  Electric  Co.), 

Research  as  a  Financial  Asset.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  June, 

1911,  v.  3,  p.  429. 
H.  T.  KALMUS,  Conservation  and  Research;  Economies  seciired  by 

Scientific  Investigation.     Sci.  Amer.  Supp.,  Feb.  22,  1913,  v.  75, 

p.  114. 
W.  F.  BLEECKEK,  Research  Work  in  the  Laboratory  and  Mill.     Jour. 

Met.  &  Chem.  Eng.,  Aug.,  1914,  v.  12,  p.  515. 
A.  N.  TALBOT,  Relation  between  Research  and  Technical  Society 

Activities.    Eng.  &  Contr.,  July  22,  1914,  v.  42,  p.  74;  Eng.  Rec., 

1914,  v.  70,  p.  36  (Abst.). 
C.  E.  K.  Mees,  The  Future  of  Scientific  Research.     Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng. 

Chem.,   1914,  p.   618.     Urges  the  importance  of  fundamental 

research  in  industrial  laboratories. 
R.  F.  BACON,  The  Value  of  Research  to  Industry.     Science,  1914,  p.  87 1 . 

General  review  of  the  progress  of  chemical  industry  in  European 

nations  with  a  discussion  of  the  value  of  physical-chemical  work 

in  the  chemical  and  metallurgical  industries  and  a  brief  account 

of  the  Mellon  Institute  scheme. 
I.  RBMSEN,  Development  of  Chemical  Research  in  America.     Jour. 

Amer.  Chem.  Soc.,  Jan.  1915,  v.  37,  p.  1. 
ANON.,    How    Industrial    Research    will    help    the    Manufacturer 

Hitherto   Dependent  upon  Europe  for  Basic    Materials.     Sci. 

Amer.,  1915,  v.  112,  p.  176,  196,  223.     What  research  and  inven- 
tion did  for  different  industries. 
W.  W.  CAMPBELL,  The  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 

of  Science  and  Civilization,  Science,  1915,  p.  227.     General  re- 
view of  the  triumphs  of  scientific  discovery. 
J.  B.  F.  HERRESHOFF,  Contributions  of  the  Chemist  to  the  Copper 

Industry.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  v.  7,  p.  274 

156 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  157 

E.  T.  BEDFORD,  Contributions  of  the  Chemist  to  the  Corn  Products 

Industry.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  v.  7,  p.  275. 
SIDNEY  MASON  (President  of  the  Welsbach  Co.),  Contributions  of  the 
Chemist  to  the  Incandescent  Gas  Mantle  Industry.    Jour.  Ind. 
Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  v.  7,  p.  279. 

F.  R.  HAZARD  (President  of  The  Solvay  Process  Co.),  Contributions 

of  the  Chemist  to  the  Soda  Industry.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem., 

1915,  v.  7,  p.  281. 

A.  A.  HOUGHTON  (Vice  President,  Corning  Glass  Works),  Contribu- 
tions of  the  Chemist  to  the  Glass  Industry.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng. 

Chem.,  1915,  v.  7,  p.  290. 
M.  O.  FORSTER,  Research  and  Chemical  Industry.     Jour.  Soc.  Chem. 

Ind.,  1915,  v.  34,  No.  14,  p.  759. 
L.  H.  BAJEKELAND,  Naval  Consulting  Board  of  the  U.  S.    Met.  & 

Chem.  Eng.,  1915,  v.  13,  p.  943;  Abst.,  Elec.  World,  v.  66,  p.  1363; 

Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  67.     Proposal  for  $5,000,- 

000  laboratory.     Opinions  on  how  research  should  be  conducted. 

SENATOR  NEWLAND,  Possibilities  of  Research  to  Industries.     Amer. 

'  Gas  Light  Jour.,  1916,  v.  105,  p.  43.     Advocates  establishment  of 

industrial  research  stations. 
J.  J.  CARTY,  The  Relation  of  Pure  Science  to  Industrial  Research, 

Smithsonian  Report  for  1916,  p.  523.     General  article  laying 

great  stress  on  research  in  pure  science. 
W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Research  as  a  National  Duty.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng. 

Chem.,  June,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  533. 
W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Incidents  of  Applied  Research.     Jour.  Ind.  Eng. 

Chem.,  June,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  560. 
P.  T.  BROECK,  Research  Needed  in  Automobile  Factories.     Met.  & 

Chem.  Eng.,  1916,  v.  15,  p.  552.     Developments  necessary  in 

spite  of  evident  satisfaction  of  industry. 
P  C.  CHOATE,  Research  and  Industry.     Met.  &  Chem.  Eng.,  1917,  v. 

16,    p.    244.     Industrial    corporations   must    finance    research. 

Plans  of  remuneration. 
P.  G.  NUTTING.  Organized  Knowledge  and  National  Welfare.    Science, 

1917,  p.  247.     General  paper  on  the  importance  of  scientific 

knowledge  in  national  life. 
J.  STIEGLITZ,  The  Outlook  in  Chemistry  in  the  United  States     Science, 

1917,  p.  321.     Discusses  especially  patent  questions  and  the 

compensation    of    research   workers   in   industry   and   in   the 

universities. 
W.  A.  HAMOR,  The  Research  Couplet;  Research  in  Pure  Science  and 

Industrial  Research.    Sci.  Monthly,  1918,  p.  319.     General  article 

on  the  present  situation  of  industrial  research. 


158  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

P.  G.  NUTTING,  The  Application  of  Organized  Knowledge  to  National 

Welfare.    Sci.  Monthly,  1918,  p.  406.     General  discussion  of  the 

place  of  research  in  national  organization. 
P.  G.  NUTTING,  National  Prestige  in  Scientific  Achievement.    Science, 

1918,  p.  605.    Study  of  the  origin  of  the   German    scientific 

reputation. 
J.  C.  ARTHUR,  Research  as  a  University  Function.    Science,  1919,  p. 

387.     General    article    from    the    standpoint  of  a  university 

professor. 
T.  BRAILSFORD  ROBERTSON,  The  Place  of  Scientific  Research  in  the 

Life  that  Lies  before  Us.     Univ.  of  Toronto  Monthly,  March,  1919. 

General  paper  on  the  development  of  research  and  the  growth  of 

research  institutions. 

Surveys  of  Research  Facilities 

ANON.,  European  Engineering'  Laboratories  in  Technical  Schools. 
Can.  Eng.,  Nov.  26, 1909,  v.  17,  p.  593. 

F.  LAPORTE,  Notes  on  Some  American  Laboratories.  Bull.  Soc.  Inter. 
Elec.,  March,  1911  (3d  series),  v.  1,  p.  137. 

A.  D.  LITTLE,  Industrial  Research  in  America.  Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng. 
Chem.,  1913,  p.  793.  Description  of  the  important  triumphs 
won  by  research  in  the  American  chemical  industries  with  special 
stress  laid  on  investigation  relating  to  wood  products. 

E.  GUDEMAN,  Aspects  of  Some  Chemical  Industries  in  the  United 
States  To-day.  Jour.  Ind.  Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  v.  7,  No.  2,  p.  151. 
List  of  manufacturing  concerns  having  well-equipped  research 
and  testing  laboratories. 

A.  P.  M.  FLEMING,  Industrial  Research  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. Dept.  Sci.  &  Ind.  Research,  London,  1917.  Careful  and 
detailed  account  of  the  chief  American  research  laboratories. 

J.  C.  FIELDS,  Science  and  Industry,  Toronto,  March,  1918.  Contains 
general  account  of  research  work  especially  in  the  United  States. 

A.  D.  FLINN,  Development  of  Existing  Agencies  in  Industrial  Re- 
search. Proc.  Amer.  Soc.  for  Testing  Materials,  1918.  Pro- 
posals for  the  Engineering  Foundation  to  assist  in  the  co-ordina- 
tion of  research;  gives  list  of  nearly  350  industrial  research 
laboratories. 

J.  C.  FIELDS,  Industrial  Research  in  the  United  States,  General  survey 
of  the  situation  in  the  United  States  at  the  end  of  1918.  Univ. 
of  Toronto  Monthly,  March,  1919. 

A.  GREENE,  The  Present  Condition  of  Research  in  the  United  States. 
Amer.  Soc.  \Mech.  Eng.,  June,  1919.  Deals  especially  with 
engineering  research,  gives  lists  of  mechanical  engineering  labora- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  159 

tones  and  engineering  experiment  stations  at  universities,  also 
of  private  laboratories  and  industrial  research  laboratories. 

Relation  of  Universities  to  Industrial  Research 

D.  S.  JACOBUS,  Investigations  and  Commercial  Tests  in  Connection 
with  the  Work  of  an  Engineering  College.  Address  before  the 
Amer.  Assoc.  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Amer.  Mach., 
1906,  v.  29,  No.  6,  p.  173.  Presents  the  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  research  work  and  outside  work. 

M.  T.  BOGERT,  The  Chemical  Industries  and  the  Universities.  Jour. 
Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1913,  v.  32,  p.  720. 

A.  W.  STEWART,  The  Organization  of  Chemical  Research,  Chapter  15 
of  "Chemistry  and  Its  Borderland.''  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
1914.  General  discussion  from  the  academic  standpoint  contain- 
ing valuable  suggestions  for  the  training  of  research  chemists  and 
an  account  of  the  Carnegie  trust  for  the  universities  of  Scotland, 
together  with  a  scheme  for  the  improvement  of  the  research 
conditions  in  Great  Britain. 

Co-operation  between  University  and  Industry.  Jour.  Met.  &  Chem. 
Eng.,  1915,  v.  13,  p.  885.  Opinions  of  several  eminent  men  on 
how  to  get  the  best  results  in  combination  of  the  two. 

S.  R.  SCHOLES,  Research  Work  at  the  University  of  Pittsburg.  Foun- 
dry, June,  1915,  v.  43,  p.  237. 

ANON.,  Chemical  Engineering  in  the  University  and  its  Relation  to 
the  Industries.  Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  2.  Train- 
ing of  men  to  do  research  work  for  the  industries.  Divisions  of 
research  work.  Working  together  of  industries  and  colleges. 

H.  P.  TALBOT  and  W.  H.  WALKER,  University  and  Industry.  Jour. 
Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  61.  Necessity  for  close  contact, 
of  publishing  results,  of  disclosing  problems. 

C.  P.  STEINMETZ,  Scientific  Research  hi  Relation  to  the  Industries. 
Jour.  Franklin  Institute,  1916,  p.  711.  Deals  especially  with 
the  relation  between  the  universities  and  industrial  research. 

A.  E.  KENNELLY,  Industrial  Research  and  the  Colleges.  Jour.Amer. 
Inst.  Elec.  Eng.  1917,  p.  757.  Discussion  of  the  part  which 
universities  should  play  in  industrial  research. 

C.  E.  SKINNER,  Industrial  Research  in  its  Relation  to  Universitj-  and 
Governmental  Research.  Jour.  Amer.  Inst.  Elec.  Eng.,  1917,  p. 
765.  General  paper  containing  discussion  of  the  part  which  uni- 
versities and  government  laboratories  can  play  in  industrial 
research  and  a  description  of  the  research  division  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Co. 


160  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

F.  B.  JBWETT,  The  Need  of  Men  for  Industrial  Research.     University 

of  Toronto  Monthly,  March,  1919.     Insistence  on  the  importance 
of  training  men  for  research  work. 

The  Organization  of  Research  Work 

W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Organization  of  Industrial  Research.    Jour.  Amer. 

Chem.  Soc.,  1910,  p.  71.     General  article  with  a  special  reference 

to  the  type  of  men  suitable  for  research  work. 
H.  THALER,  Cost  of  a  Small  Foundry  Laboratory.    Giess.  Ztg.,  Feb.  5, 

1911,  v.  8,  p.  101. 
W.  C.  FERGUSON,  A  Plan  for  Organized  Research  and  Analytical 

Chemistry  in  Successful  Chemical  Manufacturing.    Jour.  Ind.  & 

Eng.  Chem.,  1912,  p.  905.     Scheme  for  the  control  and  analytical 

laboratories  of  a  large  chemical  manufacturing  company  having 

several  factories. 
ANON.,  Research  Work  in  Public  Utility  Companies.     Eng.  Rec.,  Apr. 

26, 1913,  v.  67,  p.  454. 

G.  H.  ROBERTS,  A  Few  Notes  on  Engineering  Research  and  its  Co- 

ordination.   Proc.  Inst.  Mech.  Eng.,  July,  1913,  pt.  3-4,  p.  869. 

Describes  results  of  researches  of  general  interest  carried  out  in 

Woolwich  Arsenal,  with  suggestions  for  a  "clearing  house"  for 

handling  records  of  research  work  and  so  avoiding  wasteful 

duplication. 
ANON.,  Modern  Factory  Laboratories.      Iron  Age,  Aug.   21,   1913, 

p.  387. 

C.  MAURAIN,  Review  of  Experimental  work  in  Aeronautical  Engi- 
neering.    Rev.  gen.  des  Sci.,  July  30,  1914,  v.  25,  No.  14,  p.  679. 

Abst.,  Jour.  Amer.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  Oct.,  1914,  v.  36,  p.  0190. 
H.  G.  DORSET,  Research  Work  at  the  National  Cash  Register  Co., 

Sibley  Mag.,  1915,  v.  29,  p.  115.     Organization  and  description 

of  an  industrial  research  department.     Financial  value. 
Researches.    Jour.  Mel.  &  Chem.  Eng.,  1915,  v.  13,  p.  921.     Short  talks 

from  the  heads  of  various  industrial  laboratories. 
ANON.,  Administration  of  Industrial  Research  Laboratories.     Jour. 

Met.  Chem.  Eng.,  Dec.  1,  1915,  v.  13,  p.  922. 
Scope  and  Organization  of  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington. 

4th  issue,  1915. 
R.  F.  BACON,  Some  Principles  in  the  Administration  of  Industrial 

Research  Laboratories     Jour.  Soc.   Chem.  Ind.,    1916,   p.    18. 

General  paper  on  research  organization  with  a  special  account  of 

that  of  the  Mellon  Institute  . 
J.  F.  BROWN,  Coal  Mine  Research.     Coal  Age,  1916,  v.  9,  p.  446. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  161 

Proposal  for  establishing  coal  mine  research,  advantages  and 
improvements. 

D.  T.  PIERCE,  A  Company  that  makes  the  Most  of  its  Chemists. 

Jour.  Met.  &  Chem.  Eng.,  1916,  v.  14,  p.  519.     Daily  use  of 

research  laboratory  for  solving  and  answering  questions. 
C.  E.  K.  MEES,  The  Organization  of  Industrial  and  Scientific  Research. 

Science,  1916,  p.  763.     Deals  with  the  classification  of  laboratories 

and  their  organization. 
C.  A.  JACOBSON,  The  Need  of  a  Large  Government  Institution  for 

Chemical  Research.    Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  70. 

Needs  and  plans  for  different  departments.  Advantage  of 
large  vs.  small  research  laboratory. 

B.  C.  HESSE,  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  in  Coal  Tar  Industry. 

Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1916,  v.  8,  p.  845.  Advantages  gained 
by  dye  researches.  Particular  details  of  research  on  special 
colors.  Pure  scientific  research. 

R.  F.  BACON,  Chairman,  Research  in  Industrial  Laboratories.  Report 
of  Sub-Committee  of  Committee  of  100  on  Scientific  Research. 
Science,  1917,  p.  34.  Discusses  organization,  selection  and  train- 
ing of  men  and  co-operation  between  research  institutions  and 
universities. 

E.  DAVENPORT,    The   Outlook  for  Agricultural   Science.    Science, 
1917,  p.   149.     Contains  eloquent  protest  against  over-control 
of  research  workers  by  public  administration  officers. 

C.  H.  SHARP,  Independent  Laboratories  in  the  Engineering  Indus- 

tries. J.  Franklin  Inst.,  1917,  v.  183,  p.  221.  Comparison  of 
independent  and  of  private  laboratories.  Large  and  small 
manufacturer. 

W.  R.  WHITNEY,  Research.  Eng.,  1917,  v.  123,  p.  245.  Abst.,  Gen. 
Elec.  Rev.,  v.  20,  p.  114.  The  importance  of  economical  inde- 
pendence for  research  men.  Advantages  of  industrial  research 
laboratories  realized  and  apparent  in  time. 

J.  A.  HUNTER,  Development  of  Textile  Research  in  England.  Textile 
World,  1917,  No.  52,  p.  619.  Private  research  laboratories  of 
different  companies.  Experiments  at  Leeds  and  at  Bradford. 

C.  E.  K.  MEES,  The  Production  of  Scientific  Knowledge.  Jour.  Ind. 
Eng.  Chem.,  1917,  v.  9,  p.  1137.  Deals  with  the  classification  of 
laboratories  and  the  organization  of  a  convergent  laboratory, 
also  with  the  preparation  of  abstracts  and  the  publication  of 
books. 

C.  W.  HILL,  Efficiency  in  Industrial  Research.    Jour.  Met.  &  Chem. 
Eng.,  1918,  v.  18,  p.  182.     General  article  on  organization  with 
special  references  to  the  selection  of  staff  and  to  the  direction  of 
the  work. 
11 


162  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

ANON.,  Research  Committee  of  the  British  Institution  of  Mech- 
anical Engineers.  Science,  March  29,  1918,  p.  308.  Alloys 
research  committee's  work.  Financial  aspects. 

C.  E.  K.  MEES,  Planning  a  Research  Laboratory  for  an  Industry. 
Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1918,  p.  476.  Scheme  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  research  laboratory  for  a  specific  industry. 

A.  D.  LITTLE,  The  Organization  of  Industrial  and  Scientific  Research. 
Proc.  Amer.  Soc.  for  Testing  Materials,  1918.  General  discussion 
of  the  subject. 

JOHN  JOHNSTON,  The  Value  of  Co-operative  Research  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  the  Zinc  Industry,  October,  1918.  Reprinted  from  the 
report  of  the  organization  proceedings  of  the  Amer.  Zinc.  Inst. 

A.  P.  M.  FLEMING,  Planning  a  Works  Research  Organization.  Nature, 
1919,  p.  454.  Deals  with  research  organization  including  the 
functions  of  the  laboratory,  the  divisions  of  the  organization  and 
its  administration  and  staff. 

H.  R.  CONSTANTINE,  Co-ordination  of  Research  in  Works  and  Labora- 
tories. The  Electrician,  1919,  p.  455  and  464.  Scheme  for  a 
central  board  of  control  for  the  research  laboratories  of  the  entire 
country. 

P.  G.  NUTTING,  Institutes  of  Applied  Science.  Jour.  Franklin  Inst., 
1919,  p.  487.  Criticism  of  the  suitability  of  various  forms  of  re- 
search laboratories  for  the  training  of  experts  and  the  study  of 
fundamental  problems  and  a  proposal  for  the  establishment  of 
special  institutes  for  research  in  applied  science. 

E.  W.  WASHBURN,  Refractory  Materials  as  a  Field  for  Research, 
1919.  Systematic  study  of  the  problems  requiring  research  and 
of  the  organization  of  an  association  to  carry  on  the  work. 

Scientific  Research  in  Relation  to  Cotton  and  the  Cotton  Industry. 
Manchester,  1919.  Series  of  articles  dealing  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  research  in  the  cotton  industry  originally  published  in 
the  Manchester  Guardian  by  the  provisional  committee  on  re- 
search and  education  for  the  cotton  industry. 

W.  W.  CAS  WELL,  The  Value  of  Cost  Accounting  in  Commercial 
Laboratories.  Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  xii,  1920,  p.  79.  An 
account  of  the  cost  accounting  system  designed  by  the  author 
for  the  laboratory  of  A.  D.  Little,  Inc. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  163 

Official  Schemes 

Suggestion  by  SIB  THOMAS  BARCLAY,  State  Research  Laboratories. 
Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1915,  v.  34,  No.  7,  p.  342. 

Industrial  Research  in  Australia.  Eng.,  1916,  v.  121,  p.  339.  Com- 
mittee formed  to  plan  and  co-operate  in  research. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research  for  the  years  1915-1916.  London,  1916. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research  for  the  years  1916-1917.  London,  1917. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research  for  the  years  1917-1918.  London,  1918. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research  for  the  years  1918-1919.  London,  1919. 

Department  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research.  Research  Associa- 
tion, Leaflet  1.  Last  edition,  December,  1918.  The  government 
scheme  for  industrial  research. 

Department  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research.  Research  Associa- 
tion, Leaflet  2.  Draft  memorandum  and  articles  ot  association 
for  a  proposed  research  association. 

Department  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research.  Research  Associa- 
tion, Leaflet  3.  Conditions  as  to  the  payment  to  research 
associations  by  the  committee  of  council. 

Department  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research.  Research  Associa- 
tion, Leaflet  4.  The  method  of  subscription  to  research  associa- 
tions. 

F.  D.  ADAMS,  Canadian  Advisory  Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial 
Research.  Bulletin  No.  1.  The  need  for  industrial  research  in 
Canada.  General  discussion  of  the  research  work  done  in  the 
world. 

Industrial  and  Scientific  Research  in  Italy.  Eng.,  Mar.  1, 1918,  p.  178. 
Criticism  and  description  of  the  Italian  industrial  Scientific  and 
Technical  Committee.  Subcommittees  on  different  investigations. 

New  Research  Laboratory  is  Organized  in  Japan,  Elec.  World,  Mar.  16, 
1918,  p.  576.  Provisions  for  private  research,  co-operation, 
training. 

State-aided  Research  and  the  Small  Manufacturer.  Jour.  Soc.  Chem. 
Ind.,  1918,  v.  37,  p.  25R.  See  Rept.  of  Committee  for  Sci.  and 
Ind.  Research.  Fund  of  1,000,000  pounds  contributed  by  firms, 
etc.  Well  equipped  organization.  Limited  to  certain  industries. 

First  Hand  Opinions  on  Government  Assisted  Research.  Canadian 
Chem.  Jour.,  1919,  pp.  15  and  51.  Opinions  from  the  managers 
large  Canadian  industries  regarding  the  government  proposals  of 
for  the  assistance  of  industrial  research. 


164  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

A.  B.  MACALLUM,  A  Canadian  National  Research  Institute.  The 
Canadian  Chem.  Jour.,  1919,  p.  66.  Account  of  the  plan  adopted 
by  the  Research  Council  of  Canada. 

W.  R.  CAMPBELL,  National  Research.  Pulp  and  Paper  Magazine  of 
Canada.  General  article  proposing  establishment  of  central 
laboratory  for  Canada,  similar  in  operation  to  the  Mellon  Insti- 
tute. 

Co-ordination  of  Literature 

L.  GASTER,  Industrial  Research  and  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Press. 
Ittum.  Engr.,  1916,  v.  9,  pp.  75,  116.  Bringing  the  press  into 
closer  relationship  with  research. 

KENNETH  WALKER,  Co-ordination  of  Engineering  Libraries.  Special 
Libraries,  1916,  p.  167.  Scheme  for  co-operation  of  libraries  in 
supplying  information  with  regard  to  engineering. 

A.  P.  M.  FLEMING,  Sphere  of  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Press  in 
Relation  to  Technical  Education  and  Research.  Ilium.  Engr., 
1916,  v.  9,  p.  187.  Importance  of  publishing  research  work. 

More  Publicity  Urged  on  Industrial  Research  Laboratories.  Jour. 
Met.  &  Chem.  Eng.,  1917,  v.  16,  p.  179.  Industries  absorb 
scientific  literature  without  giving  anything  in  return. 

Accounts  of  Special  Laboratories 

C.  F.  CROSS,  A  Paper-maker's  Research  Laboratory.    Jour.  Soc. 

Chem.  Ind.j  1899,  v.  18,  p.  993. 
S.  W.  STRATTON  &  E.  B.  ROSA,  The  National  Bureau  of  Standards. 

Amer.  Inst.  Elec.  Engrs.,  Dec.  1905,  v.  24,  p.  1039. 
PROP.  S.  A.  TUCKER,  Laboratory  of  Applied  Electro  Chemistry  at 

Columbia  University.    Elec.  Chem.  &  Met.  Ind.,  May  1906,  v. 

4,  p.  175. 
ANON.,  The  Board  of  Trade  Electrical  Standards  Laboratory.     Eng., 

May  25, 1906,  v.  81,  p.  683. 
ANON.,  The  National  Physical  Laboratory,  Busby  House,  Elec.  Rev., 

London,  June  22,  1906,  v.  58,  p.  1004.     Illustrated  description 

of  the  new  electrotechnical  building,  with  an  account  of  the 

newer  work  of  the  laboratory  and  its  developments,  especially 

in   electrical  matters. 

D.  L.  HUNTOON,  The  Hammond  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Laboratory 

of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  Yale  University.  Bull.  Amer. 
Inst.  Min.  Eng.,  Mar.  1909,  No.  27,  p.  229;  Yale  Sci.  Monthly, 
May,  1909. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  165 

L.  P.  BBECKENBIDGE,  The  Engineering  Experiment  Station  and  its 
Relation  to  Illinois  Industries.  Jour.  Western  Soc.  Eng.,  August, 
1909.  Description  of  the  industries  of  Illinois  and  of  the  engi- 
neering experiment  station  of  the  university. 

ANON.,  The  New  Engineering  Laboratories  and  Workshops  of  the 
Herriot-Watt  College,  Edinburgh.  Eng.,  Aug.  20,  1909,  v.  88, 
p.  243. 

A.  M.  POKTEVIN,  A  Modern  Metallurgical  Laboratory.  Amer.  Mach., 
1909,  v.  32,  No.  3,  p.  81.  Illustrated  description  of  the  apparatus 
used  and  methods  employed  in  the  chemical,  mechanical  and 
microscopical  departments  of  the  De  Dion-Bouton  Works  Labo- 
ratory in  France. 

R.  K.  DUNCAN,  Industrial  Fellowships.  Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1909, 
p.  684.  Description,  with  discussion,  of  the  industrial  fellowships 
originated  by  Professor  Duncan  at  the  University  of  Kansas. 

ANON.,  Institute  of  Industrial  Research.  Drugs,  Oils  and  Paints, 
Nov.,  1911,  p.  231. 

W.  F.  M.  Goss,  The  Illinois  Experiment  Station  in  its  Relation  to 
the  Public.  Jour.  Western  Soc.  Eng.,  1911,  p.  457.  Interesting 
account  of  the  work  of  this  station. 

ANON.,  Institute  of  Industrial  Research  Scope  and  Organization. 
Inst.  Ind.  Research,  Bulletin,  No.  3,  Washington,  1912,  p.  660. 

C.  DANTSIZEN,   Research  Laboratory  of  Applied  Electricity.    Sci. 

Amer.  Suppl,  Apr.  26,  1913,  v.  75,  p.  261. 
ANON.,  New  Laboratory  for  Research  in  Optics  and  Photography. 

Sci.  Amer.  Suppl,  July  26,  1913,  v.  76,  p.  56. 
E.  P.  HYDE,  The  Physical  Laboratories  of  the  National  Electric  Lamp 

Association.     Jour.  Franklin  Inst.,  July  1913,  v.  176,  p.  77. 
E.  F.  LAKE,  Laboratories  of  the  Modern  Factory:  Apparatus  and 

Investigations  of  the  Studebaker  Corporation,  Detroit.    Iron 

Age,  Aug.  21,  1913,  v.  92,  p.  387. 
ANON.,  Commonwealth  Edison  Testing  Laboratories.     Elec.  World, 

Jan.  3,  1914,  v.  63,  p.  39. 
W.  F.  V.  DOBLHOFP,  Das  Aeromechanische  Laboratorium  der  Lehr- 

kanzel  fur  Luftschifffahrt  und  Automobilwesen  an  der   K.  K. 

Technischen  Hochschule  Wien.    Ztg.  f.  Flugtechnik  und  Motor- 

luftschiffahrt,  Apr.  9,  1914,  v.  5,  p.  105. 

D.  E.  BABTLETT,  Work  of  the  Underwriters'  Laboratories.     Elec.  Rev. 

&  West.  Elec.,  May  2,  1914,  v.  64,  p.  876. 
ANON.,  A    Modern  Steel  Works  Laboratory.     Bethlehem   Steel  Co. 

Iron  Age,  Sept.  24,  1914,   v.  94,  No.  13,   p.  710. 
ANON.,  History,  Organization  and    Equipment   of   the  Rockefeller 

Institute,  of  Medical  Research.     New  York,  1914. 


166  INDUSTRIAL  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH 

HENRY  L.  GRAVES,  The  Forest  Products  Laboratory,  Madison,  Wis- 
consin, 1914.  Account  of  the  laboratory  of  the  Forest  Service, 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  maintained  in  con- 
nection with  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

L.  A.  HAWKINS,  Industrial  Research.  Gen.  Elec.  Rev.,  1915,  v.  18,  pp. 
416,  868,  1012.  Description  and  pictures  of  research  laboratory 
of  General  Electric  Co. 

W.  A.  HAMOR,  The  Value  of  Industrial  Research.  Sci.  Monthly,  Oct., 
1915,  p.  86.  General  discussion  with  detailed  description  of  the 
work  of  the  Mellon  Institute. 

W.  A.  HAMOR,  Description  of  the  New  Building  of  the  Mellon  Insti- 
tute. Jour.  Ind.  &  Eng.  Chem.,  1915,  p.  333.  Very  complete 
description  illustrated  with  floor  plans  and  photographs. 

W.  ROSENHAIN,  The  National  Physical  Laboratory.  Jour.  Amer.  Soc. 
Mech.  Eng.,  1916,  v.  38,  p.  941.  Experimental  research  plant, 
industrial  works  organization  and  engineering  research. 

W.  A.  TILDEN,  Chemical  Laboratories  and  the  Work  done  in  Them. 
Part  1  of  "Chemical  Discovery  and  Invention  in  the  XX  Cen- 
tury." G.  Routledge  &  Sons  Ltd.,  1916.  Contains  description, 
floor  plans  and  photographs  of  a  number  of  chemical  labora- 
tories. 

ANON.,  Research  Fellowship  in  the  Engineering  Experiment  Station, 
University  of  Illinois.  Statement  of  the  16  research  fellow- 
ships maintained  at  the  station.  Leaflet  obtained  from  the 
director,  1916. 

R.  F.  BACON,  The  Industrial  Fellowships  of  the  Mellon  Institute. 
Science,  1916,  p.  453,  Report  for  1915.  Science,  1917,  p.  399, 
Report  for  1916. 

C.  E.  K.  MEES,  A  Photographic  Research  Laboratory.  Sci.  Monthly, 
1917,  p.  481.  Describes  the  organization  and  work  of  the  re- 
search laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company. 

C.  E.  SKINNER,  Industrial  Research  hi  its  Relation  to  University 
and  Governmental  Research.  Jour.  Amer.  Inst.  Elec.  Eng.,  1917, 
p.  765.  Contains  description  of  the  research  division  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company. 

F.  B.  JEWETT,  Industrial  Research  with  Some  Notes  Concerning  its 
Scope  in  the  Bell  Telephone  System.  Jour.  Amer.  Inst.  Elec.  Eng., 
1917,  p.  925.  Discusses  the  place  of  the  university  in  industrial 
research,  lays  stress  on  importance  of  pure  research  and  proper 
training  of  students.  Discusses  the  organization  of  research 
work  of  Western  Electric  Company. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  167 

C.  L.  REESE,  Developments  in  Industrial  Research.  Chem.  &  Met. 
Eng.,  1918,  p.  197.  Account  of  the  research  organization  of  the 
Du  Pont  Company  and  of  the  returns  obtained  from  its  work. 

SIR  R.  GLAZEBROOK,  National  Proving  House  and  Standardizing  Lab- 
oratory. Eng.,  Mar.  8,  Mar.  15,  1918,  p.  252;  p.  293, 

ANON.,  Research  and  standardization  go  hand  in  hand.  Advan- 
tages gained  thereby.  Specific  incidents. 

S.  DUSHMAN,  The  Function  of  a  Research  Laboratory,  Canadian 
Chem.  Jour.,  1919,  p.  118.  Account  of  the  organization  and  work 
of  the  research  laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 

ARTHUR  D.  LITTLE  AND  H.  E.  HOWE,  The  Organization  and  Conduct 
of  an  Industrial  Laboratory.  Amer.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng.,  June,  1919. 
Account  of  the  organization  of  laboratory  of  Arthur  D.  Little,  Inc. 

E.  TONCEDA,  Research  Work  on  Malleable  Iron.  Amer.  Soc.  Mech. 
Eng.,  June,  1919.  Account  of  four  years'  work  undertaken  for 
American  Malleable  Castings  Association. 


AUTHOR'S  INDEX 

Abbe,  Ernest,  pp.  7,  10,  74 
Adams,  F.  D.,  p.  163 
Arthur,  J.  C.,  p.  158 

Bacon,  R.  R,  pp.  146,  156,  160,  161,  166 

Baekeland,  L.  H.,  p.  157 

Barclay,  T.,  p.  163 

Bartlett,  D.  W.,  p.  165 

Bedford,  E.  T.,  p.  157 

Beilby,  G.,  p.  156 

Bleecker,  W.  R,  p.  156 

Bogert,  M.  T.,  p.  159 

Breckenridge,  L.  P.,  p.  165 

Broeck,  P.  T.,  p.  157 

Brown,  J.  R,  p.  160 

Campbell,  W.  R.,  pp.  97,  164 
Campbell,  W.  W.,  p.  156 
Carty,  J.  J.,  pp.  20,  157 
Caswell,  W.  W.,  pp.  129,  162 
Choate,  P.  C.,  p.  157 
Constantino,  H.  R.,  p.  162 
Cross,  C.  R,  p.  164 

Dantsizen,  C.,  p.  165 
Davenport,  E.,  p.  161 
Dollhoff,  W.  F.  V.,  p.  165 
Dorsey,  H.  G.,  p.  160 
Duncan,  R.  K,  pp.  37,  52,  165 
Dushman,  S.,  p.  167 


Fleming,  A.  P.  M.,  pp.  34,  110,  145,  146,  158,  162,  164 

Ferguson,  W.  C.,  pp.  154,  160 

Fields,  J.  C.,  p.  158 

Flinn,  A.  D.,  pp.  35,  141,  158 

Forster,  M.  O.,  p.  157 

169 


170  AUTHOR'S  INDEX 

Gaster,  L.,  p.  164 
Glazebrook,  R.,  p.  166 
Goss,  W.  F.  M.,  p.  165 
Graves,  H.  L.,  p.  166 
Greene,  A.,  pp.  35,  158 
Gudeman,  E.,  p.  158 

Hamor,  W.  A.,  pp.  110,  157,  166 
Hawkins,  L.  A.,  p.  166 
Hazard,  F.  R.,  p.  157 
Herreshoff,  J.  B.  F.,  p.  156 
Herth,  F.,  pp.  13,  42 
Hesse,  B.  C.,  p.  161 
Hill,  C.  W.,  p.  161 
Houghton,  A.  A.,  p.  157 
Howe,  H.  E.,  pp.  110,  167 
Hunter,  J.  A.,  p.  161 
Huntoon,  D.  L.,  p.  164 
Hyde,  E.  P.,  p.  165 

Jacobson,  C.  A.,  p.  161 
Jacobus,  D.  S.,  p.  159 
Jewett,  F.  B.,  pp.  21,  160,  166 
Johnston,  J.,  pp.  152,  162 

Kalmus,  H.  T.,  p.  156 
Kennelly,  A.  E.,  p.  159 

Lake,  E.  F.,  p.  165 
Laporte,  F.,  p.  158 
Little,  A.  D.,  pp.  37,  55,  110,  129,  158,  162,  167 

Macallum,  A.  B.,  p.  163 

Mason,  S.,  p.  157 

Maurain,  C.,  p.  160 

Mees,  C.  E.  K.,  pp.  156,  161,  162,  166 

Meldola,  R.,  p.  156 

Newland,  Senator,  p.  157 

Nutting,  P.  G.,  pp.  24,  64,  95,  110,  135,  157,  158,  162 

Patterson,  A.  M.,  p.  141 
Peck,  F.  W.,  p.  17 


AUTHOR'S  INDEX  171 

Pierce,  D.  T.,  p.  161 
Portevin,  A.  M.,  p.  165 

Reese,  C.  L.,  p.  167 
Remsen,  I.,  p.  156 
Rintoul,  Wm.,  pp.  68,  136 
Roberts,  G.  H.,  p.  160 
Rosa,  E.  B.,  p.  164 
Rosenhain,  W.,  p.  166 

Scholes,  S.  R.,  p.  159 
Sharp,  C.  H.,  p.  161 
Skinner,  C.  E.,  pp.  66,  159,  166 
Steinmetz,  C.  P.,  pp.  3,  16,  159 
Stewart,  A.  W.,  p.  159 
Stieglitz,  J.,  p.  157 

Talbot,  A.  N.,  p.  156 
Talbot,  H.  P.,  p.  159 
Thaler,  H.,  p.  160 
Tilden,  W.  A.,  pp.  110,  166 
Tonceda,  E.,  p.  167 
Tucker,  S.  A.,  p.  164 

Walker,  K,  p.  164 

Walker,  K.  C.,  p.  141 

Walker,  W.  H.,  p.  159 

Washbura,  E.  W.,  p.  162 

Whitehead,  J.  V.,  p.  17 

Whitney,  W.  R.,  pp.  20,  71,  95,  119,  156,  157,  160,  161 


INDEX  OF  LABORATORIES 

Adam  Hilger  Limited,  p.  7 

Aero  Mechanische  Laboratorium  Technischen  Hochschule,  Wien,   p. 

165 

Alloys  Research  Laboratory,  p.  50 

American  Malleable  Castings  Association  Laboratory,  p.  167 
Applied  Electro  Chemistry  Laboratory,  p.  164 

Bethlehem  Steel  Laboratory,  p.  165 

Board  of  Trade  Electrical  Standards  Laboratory,  p.  164 

Botanical  Research  Laboratory,  pp.  32,  119 

Bureau  International  de  Poids  et  Mesures,  p.  28 

Bureau  of  Mines,  p.  30 

Bureau  of  Standards,  pp.  28,  29 

Canadian  Research  Institute,  pp.  37,  54, 164 

Carnegie  Institution,  p.  31 

Cavendish  Laboratory,  p.  27 

Chemical  Manufacturing  Laboratory,  p.  154 

Commonwealth  Edison  Testing  Laboratories,  p.  165 

Cornell  University  Physical  Laboratory,  p.  24 

Curie's  Laboratory,  p.  27 

DeDion  Bouton  Laboratory,  p.  165 
Dewar's  Laboratory,  p.  27 
Dupont  Company,  p.  167 

Eastman  Kodak  Company,  pp.  83,  117,  122,  139,  143,  166 
Electrical  Testing  Laboratory,  p.  37 
Experimental  Evolution  Laboratory,  pp.  32,  119 

Fischer's  Laboratory,  p.  27 
Forest  Products  Laboratory,  pp.  30,  166 
French  Research  Institute,  p.  54 
Fuel  Research  Station,  p.  45 

173 


174  INDEX  OF  LABORATORIES 

General  Electric  Company  Consulting  Engineering  Laboratory,  pp. 

3,  17 
General  Electric  Company  Research  Laboratory,  pp.  6,  10,  25,  70, 

156,  166,  167 
Geophysical  Laboratory,  pp.  26,  31,  119 

Hammond  Mining  Metallurgical  Laboratory,  p.  164 
Herriott  Watt  College  Engineering  Laboratories,  p.  165. 

Illinois  Engineering  Experimental  Station,  pp.  19,  165,  166 
Institute  of  Industrial  Research,  p.  165 

Japanese  Research  Institute,  pp.  54,  163 

Johns  Hopkins  University  Electric  Engineering  Laboratory,  p.   17 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  Gesellschaft,  p.  33 
Kayser's  Laboratory,  p.  27 

Laboratoire  Centrale  d'  Electricite,  p.  28 
Little,  A.  D.,  Inc.,  pp.  37,  55,  129,  167 

Marine  Biological  Station,  p.  32 
Mellon  Institute,  pp.  37,  49,  52,  156,  166 

National  Canners'  Association,  p.  36 

National  Physical  Laboratory,  pp.  28,  29,  164,  166 

Naval  Consulting  Board,  p.  157 

Nela  Park  (National  Electric  Lamp  Association),  pp.  24,  26,  165 

Nobel's  Explosives  Company,  p.  136 

Nutrition  Laboratory  (Carnegie  Institution),  p.  119 

Onnes'  Laboratory,  p.  27 
Ostwald's  Laboratory,  p.  27 

Paper  Makers'  Research  Laboratory,  p.  164 

Ramsay's  Laboratory,  p.  27 
Refractories  Research  Laboratory,  p.  162 
Reichsanstalt,  p.  28 
Rockefeller  Institute,  pp.  31,  165 
Rutherford's  Laboratory,  p.  27 

Solar  Physics  Research  Laboratory,  pp.  31,  118,  119 
Laboratories,  p.  165 


INDEX  OF  LABORATORIES  175 

Terrestrial  Magnetism  Laboratory,  pp.  31,  119 
Textiles  Dyeing  Laboratory,  p.  148 

Underwriter's  Laboratories,  p.  165 

United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  p.  30 

Western  Electric  Company,  p.  166 

Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  pp.  66,  110,  159, 

166 
Wolcott  Gibbs  Laboratory,  p.  27 

Zinc  Research  Laboratory,  p.  152 


HOME  USE 

C.RCUIATION  DEPARTMENT 

MAIN  LIBRARY 


This  book  is  due  on  we  i»*  ••»• -  j  r        34Q5 

v«cs«s:r: 


to  due  date 


.L-WSHBfK' 


REU.CLR. 


J 


T.D21-—  A-40W- 
LU 


5/74 


_   ..^» 

University  of  California 
Berkeley 


VD       '   /  ^^' 

YD     I  aU^ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


